Yesterday's Spacemage

by Timothy Ellis

  "I've not received a report yet."

  "My money is on pirates. Care for a wager?"

  "Don’t be silly. Gambling is not approved of in the military. You should know that. And stop trying to side track me. If you won't come willingly, we'll have to take you by force."

  "Oh, please try."

  Everyone looked at me.

  "Sorry, did I say that out loud?"

  Jenna actually grinned at me. Just for a moment, but it was a genuine grin. She looked back at the frowning Major.

  "You heard him. You will not board this ship, let alone take us anywhere."

  "Sergeant. Arrest these people please."

  "Sir."

  The sergeant started towards the ramp, the Major stepping back to one side to give them room. At the bottom of the ramp, the man walked smack into a force wall he couldn’t see, and went down hard. Half of the men did likewise.

  The Major looked appalled. Jenna had the last word.

  "Sorry Major. This time it's you with the failed mission to report. Don’t try to board this ship, you'll only get hurt. And I’d prefer no-one was hurt. Good day to you."

  She slapped a button, and the outer door slid shut. She turned to me.

  "Can you put that magic wall around our entire cargo dock? We need cargo to be offloaded, and into the station distribution system, but not let anyone in. Same up here."

  "No problem."

  We stepped back out of the airlock, and the inner door closed. Jenna brought up the screen again. The Major and his men were still there, apparently testing the strength of the wall. Jenna looked at me. I grinned.

  On the screen, all of them began to move backwards slowly, causing several to lose their balance and fall, where they were simply pushed backwards until they could get up again. At the outer edge of the dock area, they stopped moving.

  "Good one Thorn, thanks. Can you hold them off until we can leave?"

  "No problems. As long as they don’t start blowing the place up."

  "What happens if they do?"

  "Someone will get hurt. I set the wall to bounce anything which hits it back the way it came."

  "Ouch," said Jess.

  "Thorn?"

  "Yes Jenna?"

  "You can call me Jen."

  Forty Two

  You have to salute the military mentality. Or is it stupidity?

  They came back.

  By the time they left, the people level docking bay was a ruin. Every nearby wall was scorched and holed, as was the deck outside my force wall. As I found out later, three soldiers ended up in intensive care, and none of them left without a scar of some kind.

  The energy needed to hold the wall up wasn't bothering me at all, and in fact at the time, I was actually asleep. The magic to hold the walls continued without me needing to hold the intent all the time.

  The following day, unloading going steadily, I not only copied the station database, but the local military office's as well. The girls bypassed the security completely, and we had access to the messages being sent about us.

  "They think we've developed a new version of a ship shield," said Jess.

  "Well in a way we have," laughed Lea.

  "I was afraid of that," said Jen. We all looked at her. "Another reason for them to come after us. They think we’ve made a tech advance. We haven’t, but they don’t know that. If they figure its Thorn doing magic, he'll disappear into a hole somewhere while they try to figure out how he does what he does."

  "Won't happen," I said happily.

  "You can't say that Thorn. Seriously, any action they take could potentially knock you out, and you wake up in a dark room somewhere."

  "I'll light it up."

  "They'd like you to do that. Then want you to tell them how."

  "I wouldn’t be there long enough."

  The three of them actually seemed to care. I knew I was being flippant, but I was confident now, even without a major source of energy, I could still escape anywhere. The worry perhaps would be how many died trying to stop me, but why dwell on such things.

  No, the real issue here was in escaping, I’d reveal what I really was. And once they worked it out, they'd never stop coming after me. Military mindset after all. Acquire a better weapon at all costs. Better for me if it never happened.

  "We'll cross that bridge if it ever happens," I added. "And try hard to make sure it doesn’t."

  "Got that right," said Jess.

  There were no further incidents before we undocked, but we had a shadow when we left. The Courier undocked a half hour after us, and tried to look like it was going where we were, completely by accident. Since it was a faster ship, it dawdling behind us was a dead giveaway.

  I whiled away the time by looking in on the crew of the Courier. It wasn’t altogether wasted time. I was trying to add sound to the display copy I could show my crew, but with no success. I had magic sight, but so far, no magic hearing.

  Lea sent me odd messages at times, reminding me she was about to enter her shower alone, or was otherwise naked in her room. I peeked the first time, but the memory of her with another woman was too strong, and her looking around trying to detect if I was actually looking or not, finally convinced me peeking on your crew was a really bad idea.

  A couple on the Courier were at it as often as they could, but even watching them palled. Which was the point where I gave up on trying to hear as well, given what I suddenly realized I might actually end up hearing. No. Not wanting to hear anything like that.

  I went back to my books, and carefully made sure they didn’t have sex scenes in them, before losing myself in words. Having experienced the real thing now, had taken the edge off reading about it. Mind you, if it didn't happen again any time soon, I could always change books.

  That's actually not as pathetic as it sounds. Between reading sessions, I mused about recent times, and decided I was becoming an adult. Peeking at girls in the shower was a childish thing to do. Real men did no such thing. Mind you, there was some voice of doubt in the background, as I remembered some of the already read books.

  Before we docked at the next station, I informed Lea, in a serious voice, I wasn’t taking up her invitations. For a moment she seemed disappointed, but the invitations stopped.

  The jump into the next destination was routine, but what showed on the navmap was anything but.

  "Frying pan into the fire," said Jen.

  Forty Three

  "And you brought us here because?" I asked.

  "Because this is where Sasha is," said Jen, somewhat defensively I thought.

  "And she is?"

  "The best," said Jess, and the three of them laughed.

  I could see I wasn’t going to get an answer, so I shut up.

  The system was full of navy ships. While not outright challenging us, but obviously aware we were coming, it felt like creeping in at home, hoping not to wake the guardians.

  Around the only inhabited planet in this system, were two stations, rather than the normal one. According to Jess, the other one was military. We docked at the civilian one.

  Once again, there were military waiting at the airlock for us. But this time, the girls went out through the airlock with grins on their faces, and I stood there watching hugs taking place. Jen waved me down. She indicated the smallest person there.

  "Thorn, this is Sasha. She's the marine lieutenant for this lot. Sasha, this is Thorn. We owe him big time for saving us from slavers."

  A tiny hand shot out towards me, and I took it in mine, and we shook.

  "That’s high praise from Jen. You look ordinary to me, but then, so do I. I'll take her word for it you're more than you look."

  I looked around at all the grins, and figured I was talking to the most lethal person in this lethal looking group. Her grip was firm, much more so than I expected just looking at her.

  "Nice to meet you," I managed to stammer, causing grins to become laughs.

  "Where do we crash?"

  "Lea wi
ll show you where," said Jen. "The ship has had a few modifications since you last saw it. You get a barracks to yourselves this trip."

  "Lead on my lovely!"

  I watched as they made their way up the ramp, and into the ship. It was a mixed group, but two thirds were women. Ages ranged from mid-twenties up to late thirties. The male sergeant even had grey in his hair. Yet Sasha was clearly no older than Jen was. They were all loaded down with very heavy looking bags, and yet the movement of them was clearly not even a thought process, let alone a burden to them.

  Jen waited until they were all aboard, before turning to me.

  "Same protection as last time Thorn. I was expecting trouble, but it appears someone is paying attention, and didn’t want two units to face off in the dock."

  "How would they know such a thing would happen?"

  "Any good commander would. Marine units are very loyal to each other, and in this case, Sasha is very loyal to me. Even if a superior was to order them to confront us, the lieutenant is going to know Sasha would support me. No-one is going to start that fight without needing to."

  "I don’t get it."

  "Let me put it this way then. Sasha and her unit are on leave for the next few weeks. Marines on leave tend to be loose cannons. But Sasha is a much bigger cannon because her unit act as one all the time, and they know it. If they trigger Sasha, there will be blood on the deck. Fortunately, no-one local is stupid enough to try it, even if they got the orders to try."

  "She doesn’t look like much."

  "Neither do you."

  "Point."

  I renewed the force walls like last time, and nodded to her. She nodded back, and headed back inside the ship. I followed, and slapped the button to close the airlock.

  Back in my living area, I was surprised when one of the marines walked in. Bags thunked to the deck, making a solid metal on metal noise. She looked around, and finally her eyes settled on me.

  "Got banished did ya?"

  The grin behind the words took the sting out of them.

  "Something like that." I looked from her to her bags, and back again. "You too?"

  "Hell no. I like my own company, and since we are officially on leave, and this piece of shit has more accommodation than's being used, I figured I'd use it away from the others while I had the chance."

  I gave her a speculative look.

  "And you came here anyway?"

  "Don’t follow."

  "There are two other sets of accommodation not being used at all, yet you come here, where there is partial usage."

  She held up her hands palms out in front, and let her grin loose.

  "Got me there. The boss tells me we'll be spending some time together in your bridge, so I might as well crash nearby."

  "Err…"

  "I'm Tasha, gunnery specialist. Apparently this tub has missiles now, and I get to play with them."

  "Err…"

  "We'll set up a proper weapons console on your bridge."

  "Err…"

  "Jen doesn’t want it on her bridge."

  "Oh."

  "So."

  "Err…"

  "Where do I bunk?"

  "Wherever you want."

  Her grin was strangely entrancing.

  "I assume you have the captain's digs?" I nodded. "Then show me the XO's."

  I led her out. It was a strange thing. She didn’t look strong enough to carry those bags. Until she'd picked them up that is. The muscles in her arms changed as she did so. Actually, it wasn’t only the arms. It was like every muscle in her body changed from attractive female into obsessive body builder. It was a bit bewildering, and I tried to keep it off my face, as I led her to the XO's cabin.

  I waved her inside, and once again the bags clunked down on the deck. She went back to being an attractive girl again. Her eyes cast around, saw the door into the bathroom, walked over to it, and peered inside.

  "This'll do."

  Before I knew it, her uniform was on the floor, and with her back turned to me, her singlet and boxers came off as well.

  My eyes followed her arse into the bathroom. The water came on, and I fled the room, making sure the door was shut after me.

  There was a low chuckle from behind me.

  Forty Four

  "What's the plan boss?"

  Sasha was looking at Jen. Actually, everyone was. The marines were all in civvies now, and everyone was lounging in the common area of their part of the ship. Civvies didn’t change the way they looked. They were lethal looking, and probably would still look that way naked. I shied away from that thought, and paid attention to Jen like the rest of them.

  "We have several objectives. The primary objective is to find where Thorn came from, and deliver him home."

  This wasn’t what they expected.

  "In order to do so, we need to backtrack him, and this means we need to find the pirate ship which took him, and get access to its navigation logs. We know the station they dock at, and we'll take the opportunity to burn out every pirate and slaver on that miserable chunk of metal."

  Now they were smiling. I looked around their faces, and concluded mayhem and slaughter were exactly what marines liked to do on vacation.

  "What passes for a police force on the station will no doubt object, so they'll have to be neutralized."

  Teeth flashed.

  "But first, we need to liberate some armament for the ship, from the local ordnance depot."

  She was looking at Tasha now.

  "You're not stocked with missiles?"

  "We are," said Jess, "but we could use some upgrades. The pirate crap we have on board wouldn’t cut it if we had to take on a military ship."

  "Is that likely?" asked Sasha.

  "Possible," answered Jen. "If that piece of shit who did me gets in our way, we might need to take him out."

  There was a stirring around the room.

  "No problem," said Sasha. "We thrashed this out, and determined if he was ever in our cross fire, he wouldn’t survive it. What?"

  She was looking at me, and my face must have been showing my surprise. Lea laughed.

  "Thorn doesn’t understand the politics within the military," she said. My face changed, and not for having clarification. "Don’t worry about it," she said to me. "It'll probably never happen. That shithead never lets himself get into actual combat."

  I nodded, still not understanding, but accepting the level of commitment here. Jen looked at Tasha.

  "I want you to show Thorn what sort of automatic turrets we can mount, and where. Before we leave, we'll take one from the depot."

  Looks became puzzled.

  "No, you don’t need to worry about it. Thorn will handle it. Jess will do the installing. Tasha just needs to do a console for all the weapons once they're online."

  She looked around the room, and sighed.

  "We have a secret weapon," she said, and looked over to me. "Thorn, they'll all need a ship suit. You'll find the basics in the nearest storeroom to here."

  I cast around, and found what she meant. Rolls of material, and everything needed to duplicate suits. I looked back at her, eyes asking if she really wanted a demonstration. She nodded.

  I looked at Sasha, eyes going head to foot, measuring her, and for a moment she went rigid as if I was threatening her. Jen's hand touched her arm, and she relaxed. The next instant, a ship suit appeared in front of her, folded neatly. Unknown to anyone but me, three more appeared on her bed. My eyes moved on, and one by one, in dead silence, I repeated it for each of them. When I finished, no-one moved for several minutes, all eyes on me.

  Finally, Tasha rose, stripped off her civvies, flicked out her folded ship suit, and stepped into it, zipping it up enough, but leaving some cleavage showing. It fit her like a glove. She grinned at me, and sat.

  "How?" asked Sasha.

  "Magic!" I answered, grinning.

  Jen, Jess, and Lea were also grinning.

  At that moment, there was a major rattle at the
back of my mind. I rose, crossed to the wall screen, and brought up the loading dock.

  Some sort of vehicle was overturned some distance from my force wall, as if it had hit it at speed, and bounced several times backwards, before crashing into a wall.

  The area around it was littered with fallen soldiers.

  "Also magic?" asked Tasha, with a glint in her eyes.

  I nodded.

  "I think we're going to like you," said Sasha.

  Forty Five

  Some of Sasha's team went out to help with the wounded. I changed the intent of the force wall so they could come and go as they pleased, but no-one else could.

  Jen looked a little stunned. Seemed she was wrong. Not only were the orders being given, they were being followed. From one of the soldiers outside, we learned there was significant pressure coming down from above to bring us in.

  Tasha followed me back to my bridge, and began putting a weapons console together. The basic missile firing stuff was already setup, but she took one look at it, made a rude noise, and began a new one from scratch.

  I remote viewed the outside of the ship, putting it on Lea's screen. Tasha noticed after a while.

  "I didn’t know you had any cambots."

  "We don’t."

  "So what is that?"

  "The outside of the ship."

  "I can see that. How?"

  "Remote viewing."

  "I can see that. How?"

  "Another form of magic. Tell me where you'd mount auto-turrets as it shows on the screen."

  It took a half hour, but we made a note of where we could mount turrets, and how big they could be. Apparently they came in sizes, because we had notes for three different ones, in a dozen places.

  "How are we going to acquire them?" she asked me.

  "Pull up the military station layout please."

  She looked at me.

  "You do know it’s classified to military personnel only, don’t you?"

  "I figured it. But we copied their database while you lot were unpacking. You'll find the layout in our database with all the other stations we've been to."

  I received another long look, before she did as I asked, and the main level layout was on another screen.