“Hello, Miss Quinn. How may I be of service?” the image asked way more politely than Captain Brand ever would have.
“What happens if we’re here after nightfall?” I asked, and the orc shook his head and muttered something under his breath.
“Chances for survival after nightfall drop to 0.007%. The likely outcome is that the Plutarcs will consume you within seconds.” The captain stared at me expectantly. “Anything else?”
“Is there any kind of teleportation array, or something we can use to get out of here?” I asked, trying to keep the terror out of my voice. I was a pretty powerful witch, but at the same time, the holo in my hand knew that and would have taken it into account. If it was saying I’d die at nightfall, I believed it.
“Scanning,” the device said, and the platform beneath the image shimmered with golden light that pulsed out at erratic intervals.
“Come on,” Morg said, glancing back at me. He pointed his chain-axe at the Plutarc stronghold. “We’ve gotta take that down before sundown.” He sniffed the air, huge nostrils flaring. “That’s only a couple hours away.”
“Give me a second,” I snapped, tearing my eyes from the holo to glare at him. “I wanna see if this finds anything.”
“There’s nothing to find you, stupid girl!” he snarled, spinning on his heel and glaring at me, pig-like eyes narrowed. “We need to destroy the Plutarcs before nightfall.” He pointed at the sky. “In case you haven’t noticed, the battleship is gone, so that’s going to be a bit harder to do than we thought since no there is no one to drop a bomb on them from space.”
“Which is why it’s important to get out of here,” I growled back, taking a step toward him. Magic swirled around me, kicking up dust and sending it spiraling off in miniature dirt devils. “And don’t you talk down to me, or I swear to God, I will straight up go World of Warcraft on your ass and summon a giant hand from the earth to crush you.” Lightning cracked in the sky above as he took a step forward, unafraid.
“I double dog dare you,” he replied, voice low and angry. Steam began to curl from his skin, and scarlet sparks leapt from his eyes as he pointed his chain-axe at me and turned it on. It revved to life, spitting contrails of blue energy into the air. He tapped his chest with one hand. “I’ll even give you a free shot.”
My fist tightened, and I had half a mind to pummel him just on principle, but that would be pointless. If the holo couldn’t find a way off this rock, we were going to have to kill all the Plutarcs, and while I didn’t like our odds of success, I bet they’d be a lot lower if one of us was dead.
“Transport array not found. However, scans indicate a life pod has been jettisoned into low orbit above the planet.” The hologram pointed toward the atmosphere, and as he did, a coordinate map appeared next to his fingers.
“Can I reach that?” I asked, completely ignoring the orc. To his credit, he was suddenly a lot more interested in my holo too. If we could get to the life pod, we’d be able to wait until someone came. Better, those had long range communication systems built in so we could actually call for a rescue.
“Calculating,” the holo told me, and a little hourglass appeared above his head. It filled up and spun to fill up again.
“Maybe your idea wasn’t as bad as I initially thought,” Morg said, coming over and clapping me on the shoulder. “If we survive, I shall mate with you by way of apology.”
“Um… that’s not gonna happen, but I appreciate the compliment,” I said, shaking my head. “As I said before, you’re just not my type.”
“You keep saying that, but I’m everyone’s type,” he said, touching his chest. “Everybody’s.”
“Look, we have to get out of here and find my friends. We don’t have time for this,” I said, extricating myself from him and taking a step away as the holo beeped at me, getting my attention.
“Coordinate pathway calculated.” A series of blue clusters appeared in the air next to it. “Given your current powers, you will need to make three jumps. One to low atmosphere. The next to beyond the atmosphere into space. And a third to the pod itself. Scans are unable to reveal the precise interior of the life pod.” It displayed an image in the air of a life pod that appeared circular with a small hatch that reminded me of the ones the Saiyans in Dragonball Z had used to come to earth only bigger.
“How the hell am I going to teleport us into space and not die?” I asked, glaring at the holo.
“I changed my mind. Your plan is dumb,” the orc replied, shaking his head at me. “I can’t believe I offered to mate with you.”
While his comment annoyed me because he should be damned pleased to mate with me, I ignored him and focused on the holo, thinking. The jumps themselves weren’t that hard. Just from looking at the pathway laid out in front of me, I knew I could do it. The problem was the whole living in space thing.
I was wearing a standard Federation battle suit, but it wouldn’t be able to withstand the cold vacuum of space at all. Worse, I was pretty sure the orc’s armor wouldn’t do the job either. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have said my plan was dumb.
No, what we needed was something to ward off space, like…
“I have a really bad idea,” I said, turning to Morg. “But it’s better than most of my bad ideas.” I splayed my fingers. “By at least four, maybe five percent.”
“What is it?” Morg asked, rubbing his chin like he didn’t really wanna hear it but was going to listen until something better presented itself. Oddly, it reminded me of the looks I sometimes got from women I chatted up at the bar.
“I’m going to use my magic to create a shield around us. Then we’ll jump into space.” I grinned at him as he shook his head at me.
“I find it hard to believe you’ve actually had worse plans.” As he spoke, I threw an arm around his waist. “But if this is what we must do, so be it.”
“Come on, it’ll be fun,” I said as I called on my power and teleported us into space.
3
Cold stabbed into my ribs, pulling against my magic with everything it had. My breath whooshed out of my lungs as sparks whipped off of me. My vision blurred as we hung there above the atmosphere.
We needed to jump once more to reach the pod, only I could already tell we were going to die. As Morg hung on to me for dear life, I could feel my shield cracking along with my resolve. Blood ran from my nose and ears, and my mind strained with effort as I tried to picture the final coordinate in my mind’s eye. Only I couldn’t because everything was a blurry haze of color.
My lungs burned for breath that wouldn’t come. I was cold, so cold. As hairline cracks rippled across the magic I’d wrapped around the two of us, I knew I didn’t have long. Worse, I couldn’t use any magic to help with that either.
Nearly everything I had was being jammed into my shield in a nearly futile effort to not die in the vastness of space. The planet hung below us like an angry red god, and the yellow sun burned above.
Flame leapt from the amulet on my chest as I reached up with my free hand and seized it. The gemstone inside was a pulsar crystal, which was the same stuff used in the Endeavor’s teleportation array to boost my powers. Unfortunately, from the way holding it felt like grabbing a burning coal, I knew it was about at its limit too.
“Let’s go, Mallory Quinn,” Morg said, his words coming out in a fog of breath that stung my cheek. Part of me was surprised he could talk or that he’d waste his breath on it. He leaned into me, his huge green lips brushing against my ear as he whispered the final coordinate in my ear.
I’ll be honest, I couldn’t think well enough to picture it. Couldn’t feel anything but the strain of my magic cracking like a metaphysical eggshell, but as the sound of his voice hit my brain, I went for it.
I shoved power into his words even though trying to grab them as they slipped through my brain was like trying to bare hand a bucking bronco while wearing butter gloves. I poured energy into it as my shield snapped, crackled, and popped.
As the shim
mering translucent film of energy around us thinned further, we teleported. My stomach lurched into my throat as reality broke apart and put itself back together in an instant.
At first, everything seemed the same. We were still in space, still dying, but the sun was closer, and the planet was farther away.
I flailed, freaking out because I couldn’t find the pod. Where was it? My heart hammered in my chest as I looked around frantically. Oh my God, I was going to die. No. I couldn’t die. I might be able to get us back.
I glanced down at the planet. It was far, so far, but what other choice did I have? As I grabbed hold of my power, causing the shield to press against my flesh like a soap bubble, Morg jerked me hard.
As his chain-axe whipped out, I spun to look at him. I followed the arc of the weapon in time to see it clang against a metallic hull. The pod had been behind me!
I had half a second to realize how goddamned stupid I was before Morg used his chain-axe to pull us to the pod. My lungs screamed for breath, and reality was starting to drill down to a tiny dot of light amidst an ocean of blackness. Still, I tried my best to power the shield as Morg grabbed hold of something on the life pod’s shell and twisted.
The door opened with a hiss of compressed air that whipped by us, practically knocking us into space. I couldn’t tell you how Morg managed to hang on, but I was damned impressed.
His muscles bulged with effort as he flung me roughly inside the life pod. I hit the steel wall across from the door with a thump and bounced back toward him as he stepped through the opening. He held one hand out, palming my face like a basketball and halting me. As I hung there weightless, he spun and hit a switch beside the door. It shut with a clang that rang out like a clarion call.
Lights all around the pod began to blink from red to green, and as the last one flashed emerald, the hiss of air filled my ears. The shield I’d maintained shattered into etheric shards as I sucked in a breath that tasted like Heaven.
“I cannot believe that worked,” I wheezed between gulps of sweet recycled air. “I so thought we were dead.”
Morg ignored me as he moved toward the front of the pod and flopped down in a small chair. It was funny because he was way too big for it, so his knees practically touched his chest. He ran his hands across the control panel, but instead of doing anything interesting, the panel lay dormant.
“I don’t think this pod works,” Morg said, turning to look at me. “Unless you know something about Antarian technology I do not. It’s possible because I only took a twenty-minute class on it at Orc School.”
“Orc School?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him as I let the oxygen work its way back into my brain. I was tired and needed a recharge, but at least I wasn’t on a planet filled with ravenous gnats. “Is that really a thing?”
“Yes. It is where we learn about what it means to be an orc.” He touched his chest. “I graduated with high honors.”
“Okay…” I mumbled, wondering why we didn’t have anything similar. Hell, for all I knew, maybe we did. I was, after all, an independent contractor.
“So do you know anything?” he asked, pointing at a series of slate gray buttons with symbols I didn’t recognize emblazoned across them. “I think the center one is the start button, but it doesn’t seem to work.” He depressed one of the buttons, but nothing happened.
“I don’t know anything about it,” I said, shrugging. “If I can’t do it on my iPhone, it’s pretty much beyond my grasp.” I shrugged. “I never went to an academy or anything.”
“Then how are you out here?” he asked, suddenly concerned. “This is a Federation mission. Your captain is well known and very brave. It is said he tore a dragon in half with his bare hands on the blood beaches of Sindra ‘Kai. How could he take someone untrained into his crew?”
“There was an opening for a witch, I guess,” I said, suddenly embarrassed by my lack of knowledge. “I don’t even have my silver sandals yet.”
“Oh.” there was a lot of emotion in that single word. Like Morg had just watched his whole life pass before his eyes.
“I’m not sensing a lot of confidence from your general direction.” I waved my hands at him. “Of the two of us, who just saved us from the ravenous Plutarcs?”
“You trapped us in a life pod that doesn’t work,” he said, getting to his feet and moving to look at a screen covered in red squiggles. “A pod that has exactly six hours of air left in it because the oxygen scrubbers are currently offline.” He crossed his arms over his chest. “Do better if you expect me to mate with you.”
“Dude! Get over it.” I gestured at his crotch. “I’m not going near that with a ten-foot pole.”
“Ten-foot pole.” He smirked. “How cute that you think I’m so small.”
I ignored his comment as I pulled out my holo and turned it on. Instantly, Captain Brand’s holographic visage appeared before me.
“Help me, Captain Brand. You’re my only hope,” I said as I turned the holo so it could see the pod. “Because I have no idea how any of this shit works.” I jerked a thumb at the orc. “He’s useless since he failed Orc School.”
“I did not fail Orc School.” Morg glared at me. “Your lies insult my honor.”
“The life pod appears to be powered down. No damage found in preliminary scans. The recommendation is that you turn it on,” the holo intoned. “If you do not, oxygen will be depleted in 5.78 hours.”
“Great, how do I turn the pod on?” I asked, moving toward the control panel.
A light flashed from the holo, illuminating a tiny switch next to the button Morg had pressed. “Turn the ignition switch into the on position and then press the start systems button.” The button Morg had pressed illuminated.
“That’s not going to work,” Morg said as I followed the instructions, turning on the ignition switch before hitting the button.
The sound of the ship rumbling to life filled my ears as the vent overhead began to blow in cool, stale air. I turned and looked at the orc, baring my teeth as I smiled at him.
“What was that? I may have misheard you,” I said, smiling sweetly at him.
“Your attitude makes me think you would be incapable of suitably raising my offspring.” He rolled his eyes at me and then began to examine his chain-axe like it was the most interesting thing in the world.
I brushed off the comment because first, yuck, and second, he could fuck off. Then I turned back to the holo. “Say, is there any kind of transmit array? Or some way of finding the Endeavor?”
After a few minutes of scanning, the holo beeped encouragingly, and Captain Brand’s image disappeared, replaced by a ship that sort of resembled a small moon with an evil, toothy maw etched into one side.
“There is a transmission array setup within the life pod. The Starship Endeavor has been located within transmission distance, but a precise lock cannot be found as it appears to be residing within a giga class shuttle.” As the holo finished its spiel, Morg looked at me, horror on his piggish face.
“No, it can’t be,” he mumbled getting up and coming toward me. He stared at the holographic image of the shuttle for a long time, and for a moment, I thought he might hyperventilate.
“What?” I asked, glancing at him. “What’s the big deal? I mean, okay that’s a big ship…”
“He’s supposed to be dead…” Morg turned at me, and for the first time ever, he seemed scared, and I’d seen him literally punch a mech in the face so hard the machine exploded.
“Who is supposed to be dead?” I asked, trepidation leaking into my voice. Whatever that was, wasn’t good, and worse they had the Endeavor.
“Admiral Vah.” Morg turned to look at me. “He was head of the Space Mage’s Guild before he went insane and started killing all the non-purebloods. We lost multiple armadas stopping him.”
“So like Space Voldemort?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him. “I still don’t see what the big deal is.” I reached up and touched my forehead with one finger. “I may not have a
lightning-shaped scar, but I’m no slouch myself.”
“This is true.” Morg looked at me hard. “But do you have the power to destroy an entire planet with your mind?” He pointed at the ship displayed in the holo. “Because Vah does.”
4
“What do you mean Vah can destroy a planet with his mind?” I asked, trying to actually comprehend that. Only, I couldn’t because envisioning that amount of power shook me to the bone. The Gideon Cube had been strong in a similar way, but this was different. This power was controlled by a person who was hell-bent on killing everyone, and unlike with the Gideon Cube, there would be no way to wrench that power from him and use it for good.
“I’m not sure why you think I was unclear in some way,” Morg said, shaking his head. “We have to get out of here now. We must warn the Federation so they can put together a coalition…”
“Firstly, we can’t go anywhere because we’re in this stupid pod, and the closest ship the pod can lock onto is in the belly of that.” I gestured toward the Planet Breaker. “Secondly, you need to start at the beginning before you had your panties in a twist.”
Morg turned to look at me and shook his head very slowly.
“You do not understand because you were not there.” He shut his eyes. “I can still see the scarred beaches of Hondu. It was once a lush tropical place. Then Vah came with his armada. He had one desire, to assimilate those who had magical blood and eliminate those he could not. Hundreds of races were reduced to slaves or murdered outright. He came to Hondu, home of an indigenous people your kind would call elves.” He swallowed hard. “They were masters of nature magic, could commune with their ancestors to call upon unfathomable power. When a Hondun stepped on a battlefield, armies fell. Vah took the whole planet in an eye blink. With the wave of one hand, he turned it into a smoking husk.”
Planet Breaker: A Supernatural Space Opera (Witching on a Starship Book 2) Page 2
