He pushed it out of his mind. This was no time to be worrying about such things. “How long will it take us to get to Quasar’s place?”
Marna frowned. “Time references in the common tongue are terrible…” She looked at Dominique. “How much would a kilorev be?”
“Roughly, a quarter bell,” the dark-haired woman filled in.
“So, are we going to learn how to use these items before we actually need them?” Bannor asked fingering the weapon on his side.
Eclipse turned from where he was sitting at the front of the machine. He reached into a pocket and pulled something out. He walked back along the rows handing the items to Vanidaar, Euriel, Idun, Daena, Ziedra, himself and Damay.
Bannor looked at the object, it looked like a flat red crystalline circle a little smaller than a coin.
“We don’t have time to train you properly,” Eclipse told them. “These are the next best thing. Press it to the back of your neck until it takes hold.”
Idun looked at the object in her hand with suspicion. “And what is this?”
“A skill implant,” Marna said. “With our short lead time we couldn’t even use quick teach. So these are the next best thing. Suffice to say, they are like a learn-as-you-go quick teach. When you need to use one of the pieces of equipment we supplied—touch the object and think about what you want to do—there’s a pause—and you’ll have an instinct for it.”
“I like that better than a massive headache,” Daena said, frowning at the object. “Back of the neck, huh?”
Marna nodded.
The girl shrugged, pulled her hair out of the way, and pressed the object where indicated. After a few moments, she let go. “Hmmm, tingles.” She undid the catch on the weapon and held it in her hand. She narrowed her glowing eyes. Reaching up she fingered a beveled cylinder that jutted from the back of the device. She paused, brow furrowing. Then placed the heel of her hand on top of the cylinder and spun it quickly through its range of motion by moving her hand side-to-side. “Huh. That’s wizard.” She looked to Bannor, then to Damay. She spun the wheel all the way to the left. “Stun.” She raked her hand across the wheel. She looked down the length of the device with one eye closed. “Obliterate.” She straightened up and grinned. “Nice.” She shook her head. “Knowledge on demand. That is just too wizard for words. You just have to focus. It takes a little time.” She frowned at Marna as she put the weapon back in its holder. “It stings though… you didn’t mention that part.”
The ancient Kriar shrugged.
Apparently satisfied that the device was not harmful, Idun did the same. She did a similar experiment and nodded in acknowledgement of the cleverness of the device. With her mother declaring it safe, Euriel donned her device.
Bannor frowned. He seemed to be learning a lot recently—the hard (easy?) way. He, Damay, Vanidaar, and Ziedra put their devices on at the same time. When the crystal took hold he felt a hot tingling race through his arms and legs and a sharp prickling sensation in the back of his neck. He didn’t feel different at all.
He pulled the weapon out of the holder—he felt a tingle in the back of his head—holster. Strange, that odd word had popped into his mind. He held the item—the tingle came again—Mark VI. As he stared at the handle—the grip—he wrapped his hand around it, putting his finger through the—guard—and on the—trigger.
Bannor felt an ache pulsing in his temple—it was similar to the pain he experienced with the quick teach, but far less severe.
Without really analyzing it, he knew squeezing the trigger would make the weapon launch a bolt of—energy. It was like a crossbow only far stronger. He put the heel of his hand against the wheel on the back of the weapon and slid it through the range of motion—‘stun’ to ‘obliterate’—the same words that Daena had used.
He looked up from his study to see Damay, Euriel, Vanidaar, Ziedra and Idun all with contemplative expressions exploring the ability of the skill implants.
“I don’t know why you call this anything other than magic,” he said to Marna. “Your artifices, these jewels, this armor,” he tapped the chest plate. “It seems like magic to me.”
Marna shrugged. “It isn’t magic when you understand it. Our artifices are merely the result of eons of study. What you do, Bannor, with no artifices save your mind and spirit—that is magic. It is doubly magic to me, as I do not even understand how it works.”
“It works because Gaea wants it to,” Ziedra said from across the way. The dark-haired savant twisted a finger in her long tresses. “Big brother there is the reincarnation of her first born—Alpha.”
Damay tilted her head and looked past Daena to Bannor. “That may be something of an exaggeration. He does have a plentitude of our lady’s gifts however.”
Ziedra shrugged. “I don’t think it’s much of an exaggeration. The longer I know him, the more and more outrageous stuff I see him do. That thing at the party.” She shook her head. “Does anything else make sense? Alpha was the catalyst that caused Gaea’s spiritual powers to incarnate in the first place.”
“I thought Alpha was a part of Gaea?” Marna said with a furrowed brow.
Ziedra shrugged. “Do I look old enough to understand a cosmic being able to create all the life in universe? Does Bannor being an extension of Gaea seem all that far fetched?”
“Not to me,” Loric said with a nod. “It is a sound bit of reasoning. It makes sense from the standpoint of savant mythology as well.”
“I have ventured with Captain Starfist extensively,” Vanidaar said with a furrowed brow. “The strength and timbre of his life-force has always perplexed me. In fact, when another creature would have been slain from the drain on their spirit, he persevered. That Gaea watches over him goes without question.”
Bannor sighed. He hated when people talked about him like he was some kind of strange mythical beast. “Did it ever occur to you that I don’t want to be thought of as some kind of creature?”
“Nothing wrong with being a creature,” Terra giggled, rubbing her face against Tal’s. “Especially if everyone likes the creature that you are. Which everyone seems to.”
He frowned. “I just want to be normal. I could live without all this—stuff happening to me!”
“Friend,” Desiray said. “I don’t know you yet, but if you’re a friend of Wren’s, I wager if you were normal you’d be bored out of your skull.”
“You’d lose that bet,” he growled. “I had a perfectly normal life—worst thing that ever happened was a stray ogre now and then. I was happy.”
Euriel leaned her head against her husband. “You mean you’d be happier if you’d never met Sarai?”
He scowled. The thought made his stomach twist. “Of course not.”
“What part of her life style is ‘normal’?”
He rocked his head back. “We were normal, we lived in the mountains like normal people—then Hecate came along and ruined everything.”
“Come on, Bannor, you’re kidding yourself. Much as I moan about being normal, I don’t kid myself like that…” Daena said next to him. “How long was that going to last with or without Hecate? You know the Queen would have dug you out of wherever you were hiding eventually. Sarai loves you, but she wouldn’t have done the shack in the woods thing forever…”
He sniffed. “Maybe.”
Desiray shook her head and laughed. “Talk about reluctant hero. Friend, one day all the excitement is going to stop and you are going to wake up one morning feeling empty and terribly, terribly bored.”
“Well, I look forward to it,” he growled. “I’m pulled so thin now I feel like a lump of tree-sap squished under someone’s shoe.”
The white-haired woman chuckled. “You’ll get used to it—try being a mother of six, head of a couple guilds, and be an active agent for a goddess. Now, that is stretched thin…”
“Seems that thinness had you and Wren almost killing one another…” Ziedra said wistfully.
“Girl was mighty hacked at me to
be certain,” Desiray responded with a nod. She shrugged. “Can’t say I blame her seeing what she went through. It wasn’t exactly my fault—just my responsibility.”
“It is still a pretty sore point with her,” Euriel said. “I think you’ve made most of it up to her.”
“I’ve sure tried,” Desiray said with a sigh.
“We appreciate everything you’ve done for her and for us,” Vanidaar said. “We count ourselves lucky to be able to add you and Ric to our circle of friends.”
“The pleasure is shared we assure you,” Loric said with a nod. “This will be our first official knock down together, if you don’t count the party.”
“It will indeed,” Euriel said, rubbing her hands together and glancing at her mother. “It won’t be quite the same without Cassandra. She seems to be quite a scrapper.”
“She hates getting dirty,” Desiray confided with a grin. “She’ll fight like a demon just to have to keep from doing laundry.” The four of them laughed.
At an earlier time, he would have found their blasé attitude toward the upcoming fight appalling, but in truth, he’d fought so much in recent tendays that he’d come to be largely the same way.
“We’re coming up on the station,” Eclipse said. “Security is compromised so we need to be alert, not only for Baronians but Daergon regulars who may be capitalizing on the low security and the Vatraena being here.”
“Wait—you mean we may have to fight Kriar here too?” Bannor said with wide eyes. “Nobody mentioned that.”
“It’s only a possibility,” Eclipse said. “I would be remiss not to mention it. Now, everyone not familiar, pull out your weapon.” He pulled out his own sidearm. “Notice if you point at another team member.” He pointed his weapon at Bannor. “Note here,” he pointed to a spot near the—gun sight—that was now glowing red. “That’s the target sounder. Red means the weapon will not fire because the target is friendly. You have to over-ride the weapon to fire on a friendly. It works because our signatures have been loaded into these weapons. The signatures of any Kriar agents who we might possibly encounter in this mission have also been entered. If you meet a stranger that does not make the sounder turn red—it is best to treat them as an enemy.” He looked around. “Any questions?”
Bannor raised his hand.
“Bannor?”
“Assuming I understand this thing correctly,” he said. He spun the dial on the back of the Mark VI with his hand. “The crystal didn’t tell me what setting to use to stop a Baronian.”
“Anything less than quarter power is most likely going to just make them really mad,” Aarlen said from the back. “Remember, they expect to fight Kriar so they’ll have armor good against these kinds of weapons.”
“I assume using full power is a bad idea?” Daena said.
“The weapon is good for about ten full-power shots before the mechanism will disable itself for safety reasons,” Eclipse said. “We’ll be on beam power, but a full intensity shot will overheat the gun and make it useless for a good fifteen count. Don’t do it in a pitched battle unless you have something as a back up.”
“Dulcere and I will have these Mark XIIs,” Eclipse held up the far larger weapon. “If a target is resisting your attacks, call one of us.”
The machine began to hum around them and Bannor felt himself surge forward as divisions in the tube flashed by with gradually less speed. The machine was approaching some kind of complex on the side of one of the world segments. It did not look like the one that he and Daena had entered.
“Gotcha,” Tal growled. He cracked his knuckles and rolled his shoulders.
“We are the point team’s cover,” Aarlen said. “We are off second. Bannor you are lead—just keep sharp and call out any enemies you sense. Dom, you have one job, keep any heat off Bannor so he can locate targets. Marna you coordinate Bannor’s spotting with the team one and two. Damay, you stay with Idun and I. You will play anchor and defense, while Idun and I are team hitters… Bannor points them out—”
“—We hit them. Yes.” Idun smacked a glowing fist into her palm. “That makes sense to me.”
“We’re off last,” Eclipse said. “Rear guard. Algernon you are lead. Euriel you watch Idun’s back. Vanidaar you cover Aarlen. Ziedra, you and Radian will be spotters. Stay high and stay in contact with Marna. I will cover you.”
Bannor drew a breath. This was so different. There was actually a plan—organization. He had an assigned role too; to use his thread sight to spot danger. He clenched his fists—that he could do. He was also team lead. It had been a long time since he had actually led a team as opposed to simply participating in mass mêlée and trying to survive.
Daena put a hand on his shoulder. “You okay?”
He nodded. “It’s not like we haven’t been through this before.”
She laughed. “No, it’s not.”
He put a hand to his chest. His heart was pumping fast. The vehicle was almost stopped now, and they were pulling into the far end of the platform.
He touched behind his ear to the far-speak gem. “Sarai?”
There was a pause of perhaps a few heartbeats. **My One?** Her voice rang clear and warm in his head. Just the sound of it was soothing.
“Star, we’re at the drop off and heading in. I’ll call when it’s safe. I love you.”
**Stay safe,** she told him. **Things are going well here in Kul’Amaron.**
“Love you,” he murmured.
**Love you,** she answered back.
He tapped the crystal off and focused on the platform the vehicle was sliding toward. The whole machine bumped and shuddered as it seemed to ride up on something that clicked and clacked. They were going slow now, by comparison, perhaps only three or four times the speed of galloping horse.
Out the window they were running alongside what looked like a huge covered pavilion area.
Eclipse pulled something on the side of his big weapon that made a loud clack and he stared at the scene. “We have to make our way across the open plaza to the point-to-point station on the far side. From there we can transport out to Quasar’s estate.” He pointed to spots in the high ceiling as the vehicle bounced and slowed further. “Watch the balconies.”
Tal straightened up and rolled his shoulders. “Guess it’s time to go to work.” He kissed his wife on the neck. Terra made a purring sound and rubbed her face against his. She rose to a standing position and grabbed one of the overhead rails as the machine came to a complete stop. Tal rose, drew a breath, and his expression changed from a slight smile to a hard mask of narrowed eyes and taut jaw.
Bannor heard a hissing sound and a clunk as metal moved under the vehicle. The doors at either end of the vehicle slid open with a humming noise.
Tal nodded to Eclipse and Dulcere. He moved to the front of vehicle, spinning the Mark VI out of its holster. With his right hand he reached up and seemed to grip the air. In a hiss and a flare of light, a long two-edged blade flashed into being.
Like Algernon’s weapon, the sword had an incredibly complex knot of threads spinning around it. Tal shifted down the steps with the gun and sword at his sides.
Loric rose from his seat by Desiray, he patted Terra on the shoulder as he passed her and proceeded down the steps. Terra followed him, with Desiray rising to follow on her heels.
Next to him, Daena drew a breath. She gave his hand a squeeze and stood up. She nodded to him and stepped after Dulcere as the lady Kriar slapped something on the big weapon she carried and stepped toward the exit.
He got to his feet and followed Daena as she and Dulcere went out the rear exit of the vehicle.
He nodded to Aarlen. The white-haired elder nodded back. Dominique stepped out of the front exit as he left the vehicle. Her hands flas
hed and a pair of wicked looking swords flickered into being. She tossed her head, black-hair wreathing around her face. A reddish light gleamed in her blue eyes and they turned a golden color.
She raised her head and sniffed the air.
Bannor ignored her for the moment, focusing instead on Dulcere’s back and proceeding after her.
The members of the team moved with quiet efficiency, even burly Tal moved across the plaza in near total silence.
As they left the immediate area of the platform, the roof opened into an enormous dome that Bannor guessed was some three or four hundred paces high. Underfoot, the area was tiled in stones in an interlocking mosaic pattern. Circular gardens filled with various shrubs, trees, and flowers were spread out through the area. The center of the area was terraced down into a square with several statues on raised platforms.
It was a huge park—one empty of people. Some ancient Kriar artesian had designed and built the place, but there were apparently no patrons to enjoy it. The stone underfoot was pristine and clean, devoid of wear. The grass and plants looked well tended as though brand new. It made him hearken back to when he asked Marna what they needed all the space for—to hold all our expectations. Perhaps the answer had not been as rhetorical as he first thought. With untold millions upon millions of summers of life—what did a person, or a race, do? He stared around. Create. The more he thought about what he had seen in his previous trip to Homeworld—the whole titanic artifice was like a near infinite canvas where the minds of the Kriar could create without end. Their creations went beyond mere art, statuary, and topiary… they created life… created worlds. That’s what Loric had meant in his remark about playing god.
At the moment, it wasn’t for him to judge. He glanced back. Face serious, Dominique shadowed him, golden eyes scanning the landscape. Her gaze met his briefly and the pale woman smiled and nodded. The way she held her weapons, the sure movements of her body told him this was no pampered lady playing at being a warrior. The two single-edged, curved swords she held glowed and flashed in the diffuse light of plaza. From the tangle of magical threads that spun around those weapons, they were nothing a person wanted to be touched by, much less struck, especially with the kind of force the woman was obviously capable of generating.
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