Mage Marine Misfits: Book 01

by Derek Wallace

  “Okay, so we need to open the door, you ready?” he whispered to AX.

  “Yes,” AX said, squeezing his waist.

  Jordan pressed his hand on the biometric lock in an X sequence and the door opened.

  They stepped into a lab like room, massive and populated by dozens of Stits. There was a large enclosure in the middle surrounded by a circle of green energy.

  Jordan and AX exchanged loaded glances. Chances were good that if Zorica was anywhere here, she was in the enclosure, fenced by some sort of protection they had no idea how to fight.

  “It would be good if Uzochi was here right about now,” Jordan murmured to AX.

  AX lifted his hand and pretended to scratch his forehead. “What is your position?” he asked.

  The door at the other end of the room opened and two Stits stumbled in, looking surprised. Jordan narrowed his eyes at their amateur display and deliberately walked away from them toward the console, studying the design to see if he could steal some data while they were here.

  AX snorted, pushing him aside and placing his hand on the console. “Captain?” he mumbled into his comm., it has to be you to go in there and get her. The rest of us will be locked out.”

  Jordan was about to ask him how he knew this but then looked from the console to AX. Clearly, the AI had hacked his way into the system.

  “What do I do?” Jaime’s voice floated in his ear, faint and soft like he was trying not to speak at all.

  “Just walk in. Human DNA can pass but no hybrids or other species, apart from Stits,” AX said.

  One of the Stits from the doorway made their slow way toward the door of the enclosure and then slipped in. No one in the room seemed particularly bothered by it, but still, Jordan kept a hand on his weapon, ready for anything.

  The other Stits – Epone – positioned herself near the door and began to check her weapons as if ensuring they were still in tip-top condition. She was probably familiarizing herself with them in case she needed to use them at a moment’s notice. Jordan knew there was no way they were leaving with Zorica without a fight. Jaime had some potion to give her but the Stits were likely to notice that she had disappeared from the lab. Jordan cursed inwardly, regretting that they didn’t think to come up with a spell that would make it seem like she hadn’t moved from the bed. They didn’t even know what shape she would be in or if touching her was enough to pass on the infection.

  Jordan was beginning to regret this whole plan.

  The Stits that was really Jaime walked out of the enclosure, followed by another who staggered a bit as they walked. Jaime reached out and steadied her discreetly, heading slowly for the door from which they came. Jordan and AX were on high alert, waiting for someone to notice something. They began to inch backward, heading out the way they’d come as Jaime, Epone, and Zorica disappeared through the front way.

  “We need to hurry up,” Jordan whispered, walking fast.

  “Mmm,” AX replied, walking by his side. They slipped into the corridor which was now just a long brightly lit empty hallway. No Karna wolves or other glamours. They walked out as fast as they could, taking their bipedal transport at high speeds towards their pods. If Jaime had run into trouble, he would have signaled for help. But all was quiet.

  “Do you think we did it? That easy?” AX asked as they scrambled onto the pod.

  “Easy?” Jordan protested.

  “You know what I mean.”

  “I think there’s probably a twist in the tail we haven’t found yet, but so far so good. I’m not looking this gift horse in the mouth.”

  They didn’t set off for the starship yet, waiting for Jaime, Epone, and Zorica to appear first.

  “How long before the potion wears off?” Jordan asked, just to fill the silence.

  The AI stared intently at him, not saying a word.

  “What? Why are you staring at me?”

  “I am just wondering why I make you nervous. I will not hurt you.”

  Jordan could feel heat in his cheeks. “I know that.”

  “But I make you uncomfortable,” AX insisted.

  Jordan looked away. He did not know how to explain. AX was essentially a machine. Did he even understand what feelings were?

  AX walked around so he could keep looking Jordan in the eye.

  “Tell me,” he said.

  To his intense relief, he saw the transport carrying the rest of the team approach.

  “They’re here,” he said to AX who sighed and moved away.

  “Fine. Deflect if you must.”

  Jordan’s eyebrow rose. AX knew what deflecting was? Maybe he did have some knowledge of feelings.

  “I’m not ready to talk about it okay?” Jordan said, cursing his inability to lie.

  AX nodded slowly. “But you will?” he asked.

  Jordan nodded. There was nothing else he could do that wouldn’t be outright deception or give away too much about how he was feeling. He didn’t even really know himself how he felt. It was all very confusing. Clarity was not his friend so far. He was glad of it. If he did have clarity, his feelings might have come pouring out of his mouth without his permission. Sometimes, the curse was the most horrifying thing that ever happened to him.

  The transport came to a stop in front of them and everyone poured out. Jaime and Epone were supporting Zorica between them. She was wearing a Hazmat suit and Jordan raised his eyebrow, wondering how they managed that. Ash and Uzochi followed them out of the transport and Jordan relaxed, at last, setting the pod’s coordinates to the ship.

  Ash jumped on board their pod as the other took the other two. They traveled up in silence and didn’t say another word until they had Zorica settled in quarantine. She was still mostly out of it, clearly unsure about what was real and what wasn’t. They didn’t know if that was an effect of the infection or something else. They left Ash to check her over while they gathered in the command center, Jaime setting course for the Federation Headquarters. The intelligence they’d gathered on this mission alone demanded that they loop in someone in authority. But having a potential contagion on board meant that they could not land. They would simply orbit above HQ and explain the situation.

  “I realize I put you all at risk today and I would like to tender my apologies,” Jaime said, and his squad exchanged glances, rolling their eyes.

  “Yeah, now that Zorica’s on board, you’re sorry,” AX said.

  “What’s that supposed to mean?” Jaime asked.

  Epone laughed. “It is alright Captain, we all knew what we were getting into when we signed up. You can’t help your feelings.”

  Jaime stared at all of them in surprise. “I…” he said.

  Uzochi clapped him on the back. “We’ve all been through the disinfection shower and we’ve all been primed; if infection shows up, we’ll catch it early. I for one need to get some rest.”

  “Yeah Uzochi, you should lie down. The rest of you too. I will wait for Ash’s report.”

  Slowly they filed out one by one, heading to their respective quarters. Pretty soon the room was empty apart from Jaime, and Jordan.

  Jordan watched as AX disappeared down the hall with a last curious glance back at him. He gave the AI hybrid a small wave before turning around and closing the door. He stepped down the three stairs that led to the floor of the command room where Jaime was still seated on the rounded sofa. He was on his comm., probably sending off communiqués to the Federation commanders.

  “We need to talk,” Jordan said.

  Jaime looked up with a smile, putting his comm. aside, face open.

  “Oh yeah? What about?”

  Jordan came around the sofa and sat opposite Jaime, putting his elbows on his knees with a sigh.

  “Remember when Uzochi showed me how to use my gift with sussing out the truth?”

  Jaime shifted uncomfortably in his seat.

  “Yeah?” he said.

  Jordan sighed, choosing his words ca
refully. “Well, as I was seeking, I happened to stumble upon something.”

  “What?” Jaime asked, leaning in interestedly.

  Jordan took a deep breath and looked Jaime in the eye. “What is it that you’re hiding?”

  Jaime jerked in startlement. “Wha…why would you say that?”

  Jordan waved his hand. “Let’s dispel with the pretense, please Jaime. You know what I’m talking about. You’re hiding something. Something significant for all of us.”

  Jaime sighed, leaning back. “Would you be satisfied if I told you that I’m still figuring it out and I will communicate when the time is right?”

  Jordan thought about it for a while and then shook his head.

  “No. I would not be satisfied,” he said.

  Jaime laughed. “It’s kind of refreshing talking to someone who has to be honest.”

  “Yeah well, since I can’t help but extend that courtesy to you, how about you return the favor?”

  Chapter Sixteen: Exposure

  Jaime thought frantically about what to do about this. He should have thought about the fact that he was dealing with different kinds of magic and that they would find out his secret before he was ready to tell it. The thought just hadn’t occurred to him. Between the fast-paced life they’d been living and his burgeoning feelings for Zorica…he’d been distracted. But now that Jordan had confronted him directly, he had to decide whether he could trust them with this secret or not. Jordan could not lie. If another team member asked him what they’d spoken about, Jordan might tell them. He might not be able to help himself.

  So to tell Jordan was to potentially tell everyone. And he still wasn’t sure that he had everyone’s loyalty. Not after the snippets he’d ‘overheard’ on his first day with the team.

  Jaime sighed. “Well before I came here, I underwent surgery to hopefully unlock some magical ability in me.”

  Jordan stared. “That’s why you can enhance other people’s magic?”

  Jaime shrugged. “That was a curious side effect but not intended.”

  “Okay…so what is your magical ability?”

  “I don’t have one.”

  Jordan frowned. “What?”

  “If you stop with the questions, I can just tell you.”

  Jordan nodded, gesturing with his hand for Jaime to continue.

  “Like I was saying, I underwent a procedure to enhance my magical ability but that failed. Instead, I developed a whole host of tumors in my brain whose malignancy has to be controlled with drugs.”

  “Shiii…” Jordan said, whistling and shaking his head in sympathy.

  “Yeah well, you can imagine my state of mind when they gave me the news. I thought for sure they would have me terminated.”

  “Instead they gave you a suicide squad.”

  Jaime grimaced. “I don’t think of us that way.”

  “But it’s what we are.”

  Jaime shrugged. “Anyway, as I was preparing for this assignment, I started to get… I don’t even know what to call them. Snippets?”

  Jordan leaned forward. “Snippets of what?”

  “Conversations basically.”

  “Whose?”

  “That’s the thing. It wasn’t always obvious who was speaking. Some voices I recognized.”

  “Like whose?”

  “The commander’s.”

  “Hmm, what did he say?”

  “Well, just before my meeting with him giving me this assignment, I got a snippet where he gave me a rundown of each member of this team.”

  Jordan’s eyebrows shot up. “You mean like a premonition?”

  “If a premonition is basically hearing the commander revealing to me the files of each and every member of my team, then yes.”

  “Whoa.” Jordan looked flummoxed. “What else?”

  Jaime shrugged. “Random things. Nothing actionable…yet.”

  “Hmm. Yet, you say.”

  “Yet,” Jaime said holding Jordan’s gaze.

  Jordan nodded his head slowly. “Well…this changes things.”

  “How so?”

  “If we can find a way to use your skills, we might know if we’re running into trouble or not.”

  “You mean at HQ?”

  “Yes.”

  Jaime opened his mouth to say that there was no chance of danger from HQ and then closed it again.

  Snippets indeed.

  If the snippets he’d overheard while half his team was being kidnapped had anything to do with headquarters, they had a lot to worry about.

  “Is there any way to hone these snippets? Make them more…informative?” Jordan asked.

  “I…tried. Just before we went in for Zorica, I tried to trigger one.”

  “And were you successful?”

  “Like I said…snippets.”

  “Alright well, I’m going to do some research, after I get some rest. Don’t wait up too long. It will probably be a while before you can see Zorica.”

  Jaime nodded noncommittally and Jordan laughed as he left him as if he knew that Jaime would wait for as long as it took.

  ∞

  The whoosh of the door opening woke him up from a doze he hadn’t realized he was in. He sat up, blinking blearily up at Ash.

  “You can see her now,” Ash said.

  “Are…is she...okay?”

  “She’s still alive and showing no signs of worsening. The curious light beneath her skin worries me as it increases her core temperature, and lucidity is fleeting. I need to get her to a real hospital. If pressed, I would say she is fighting the infection.”

  “Why do you think they injected her Ash? What could they possibly have…?”

  “Let us not conjecture. Get me to a working medlab I will get you answers.”

  “Right. Okay. So I’ve set us on course for the Federation HQ. Unless you can suggest another, safer alternative it’s the only lab that I know which at least knows about this infection.”

  “Can you take us to the moon colony?”

  Jaime’s eyebrows went up. “The sub-sector was destroyed.”

  Ash was avoiding his eyes. “Subsector six was destroyed, yes. But there’s a substation simply known as five over which Sub sector six was built. It was built by the First Immigrants from the Earth and is fairly self-contained. When they built sub-sector six, they chose to do it on top of five because a lot of the supporting infrastructure was already in place. The computer systems also automatically updated any info uploaded to any computer on the colony.”

  “Huh…so you’re saying it’s a resource. How do you know it wasn’t destroyed when Sub Sector Six was?”

  “We were there. Five sits beneath three layers of rock. The bomb used was meant to take out computers and destroy furniture, not blast a crater into the moon.”

  “Do you know how to get to five?”

  Ash paused, before saying simply, “Yes.”

  Jaime hesitated to ask but he really needed to know. “How do you know about five?”

  Ash looked anywhere but at him before saying after a long silence. “I am not the only one in my family to go astray. I have…an aunt let us call her, who worked with the crew that built five. She was their healer. You can imagine how dangerous such an endeavor would have been, at the time.”

  Jaime nodded. “I did not know that the Drueerd and Earth collaborated in such a way.”

  “They didn’t. My aunt…she fell in love with an earth man.”

  “Ah, I see.”

  Ash shook her head. “No you do not.” Then she stopped, really looking at Jaime for the first time since she’d stepped into the room. “Or maybe you do….you can go and see Zorica now. I will plot a course for the moon.”

  Jaime nodded and left the room.

  ∞

  Zorica looked washed out, the same color as her hair and eyebrows. Jaime took her hand, uncaring of the danger.

  “You’re gonna be fine.”

&
nbsp; Her eyes opened, staring up at the ceiling. But instead of their normal silver color, they glowed violet.

  “Z-Zorica?” Jaime called softly, feeling his heart speed up with fear.

  She didn’t respond; not even to turn her eyes to look at him. She remained still and pale, strange violet eyes fixed on the ceiling. The curious light beneath her skin began to pulse again. He wanted to call Ash, but he didn’t want to leave Zorica alone.

  He reached behind him to press the call button in the pattern for SOS. Not too long after he’d pressed it, Ash came bursting into the room.

  “What?” she asked, even as she grabbed a long narrow disk and hovered it over Zorica’s face.

  It turned blue and Ash huffed.

  “What? Tell me what’s happening!” Jaime said.

  “Temperature rising, heartbeat in tachycardia,” Ash said.

  “Is she getting worse?”

  “No. She’s been cycling between comatose and this,” Ash said.

  “So…the violet eyes? Pulsing skin?”

  Ash nodded. “You see why I need a medlab?”

  Jaime was torn between wanting to take her to a medlab populated by more than one healer and the urge to protect her from whatever the Federation would feel entitled to do to her in her diminished state.

  “Can you fix her?” Jaime asked.

  Ash looked at him, sympathy flashing briefly in her eyes. “I can try.”

  “And you’re sure five will have what you need?”

  “Yes. Now get some rest. You will need to stand guard while we are there. I assume you will send the others on to HQ?”

  Jaime shook his head. “I can’t. The commander will want to know my whereabouts.”

  “The others are currently infection-free,” Ash said.

  “And they’ll stay that way. I will keep them away from her,” he said.

  “And you,” Ash said with a pointed look down at where his hand was linked with Zorica’s.

  “And me,” Jaime agreed.

  ∞

  Uzochi could not sleep for thinking. He could not get what he had seen in the vision out of his head. He had a feeling he was missing something. Something glaringly obvious that he was going to beat himself up for, for missing when it finally came to him. The virulent nature of the thing’s aura kept flashing across his mind, making him want to recoil from the very memory. He felt sure he’d felt that energy signature before, long before he’d come to the Federation. He had a feeling it was linked to the vision that landed him here in the first place. The one in which he’d Seen what danger his people were in. When Ariuk had first revealed the vision to him, he had railed against his fate, resisting the notion that he alone might hold the fate of his people in his hands. It was too much. But he had come to accept it, embrace it, realize that it was his destiny to do this thing.