“The Storageans are a peaceful but resilient race,” said Nickelo, sounding hopeful for a computer. “They’re mourning their dead while reorganizing as much of the undamaged equipment as possible into the remaining warehouses.”
Hoping for the best, Richard reached under the flap of his pack. When his ungloved hand touched metal, he pulled out a fully-functional funnel mine. Once the heavy mine was out of the pack, he set it on the vehicle’s turret with the mine’s funnel pointing downward.
“Open me a channel to the wizard scouts’ battle computers that are accompanying the convoy,” Richard told Nickelo using command voice.
“Compliance.” A nanosecond later, Nickelo said, “‘The One’ has connected us to battle computers Thomas and Ivan. They belong to Wizard Scouts McDonald and Palovich respectively.”
Richard had never met Wizard Scout McDonald personally, but he’d heard good things about the man. Wizard Scout Palovich had been in the Intergalactic Wizard Scout Academy two classes ahead of his own. He knew her by sight but had not had much interaction with her otherwise.
“This is Wizard Scout Shepard,” Richard said into his helmet’s communicator. “I know you’re in there with Felix Deloris. Come out and surrender your weapons. I give you my word of honor no one will be harmed. I have a twenty-kilo funnel mine on your turret. I’ll use it if forced. You’ve got fifteen seconds to make up your minds. One way or the other, you’re coming out, so you may as well make it easy on yourselves.”
“I’ll do you one better,” replied the stern voice of a man over the intercom on Richard’s battle helmet. “I’ll give you ten seconds to leave before our hovercraft circling overhead blow you all to pieces.”
“Incoming,” said Nickelo.
Four orange blips on the heads-up display of Richard’s battle helmet gave warning that a quad of the light hover-vehicles was lining up for a strafing run. Even as he looked at the four blips, Richard sensed a disturbance in the void. He sensed multiple disturbances. Richard smiled. It was a smile that would’ve made the two wizard scouts in the armored vehicle nervous if they could only have seen.
“Well, you were right, Rick,” said Nickelo sounding almost disappointed. “Sheba, Sheeta, and the pups got here in time. I didn’t think they’d make it. You are one lucky wizard scout.”
The quad of hover-vehicles had already begun diving for their strafing run. Only partway into their dive, the four light hovercraft began wavering and drifting off course. Richard detected small explosions in their cockpits as the ejection seats activated and then the pilots shot out of their fighters. They tumbled for a half-dozen heartbeats before the anti-gravity units in the seats took over. The pilots’ freefall turned into a gentle drift toward the ground below.
“The other eight pilots have also ejected,” said Nickelo. “I guess none of them liked being in close quarters with your spirit-wolves.” The spiraling hover-vehicles suddenly leveled off. “Now that the pilots are out, we battle computers have taken over the fighters’ flight controls. What are your commands, oh greatest and luckiest of all wizard scouts?”
Ignoring his battle computer’s attempt at humor, Richard spoke into his helmet’s communicator. “Your fighters are now under our control. You have five seconds before I blow this mine. Decide now or forever hold your—”
The front and rear hatches of the armored vehicle popped open. Out came two fully equipped wizard scouts with activated phase rods blazing.
Reaching out with his mind, Richard located the links to the two wizard scouts’ Power reserves. He twisted the links back on themselves, basically cutting off the two’s ability to draw Power from their reserves. Without giving the attacking wizard scouts time to recover, he sent lines of Power into the base of their spines and snapped their spinal cords. The two charging figures stumbled but recovered when their battle computers took over control of their suits. Knowing full well that he couldn’t defend himself in hand-to-hand combat against two battle computer controlled suits, Richard wrapped Power around both battle suits and levitated them into the air using telekinesis.
The smaller of the two battle suits drew a Deloris model phase pistol and fired point blank at Richard. A shield of magic interposed itself between the wizard scout and Richard. The attacking wizard scout’s phase rounds ricocheted into the air.
“You shall not harm my bondmate,” shouted a feminine voice as lines of magic wrapped around the two battle suits and their helpless wizard scouts, lifting them even higher into the air.
Richard turned to see a silver-haired elf with molten-silver eyes running on the sidewalk toward him. She was dressed in a black jumpsuit and carried a blackened staff in her left hand with a glowing blue stone at its tip. Her right hand held a deadly-looking Deloris phase pistol.
“Jeena, no!” Richard shouted. “Don’t hurt them. They’re already helpless.”
“I calculate that is not precisely a hundred percent accurate,” said Nickelo. “The two wizard scouts aren’t completely helpless. Their battle computers could—”
Jeena stared up at the two hovering wizard scouts and raised her staff. The blue gem at its top grew brighter. “They were trying to kill you, Rick. They deserve to die.” A blue glow enveloped the two floating battle suits as they rose to a height of twenty meters.
Richard sensed the magic in the blue glow surrounding the two wizard scouts form into a spell. He didn’t know what spell his bondmate was preparing to cast, but he doubted it would be beneficial to the wizard scouts.
“No, Jeena. Please,” Richard said in an attempt to reason with his bondmate. He sensed anger coming through the bond link connecting her to him. Based upon his bondmate’s emotions, he wasn’t sure she was in a reasoning mood.
“Geesh,” said Nickelo. “And I thought you had a temper problem. If you’re going to calm her down, I calculate that you had better act fast. Based upon the speed of movement of the molten silver in the elf’s eyes, the wizard scouts don’t have much time.”
“What about their families?” Richard shouted using a technique of asking unexpected questions that he’d seen one of Silverton’s elf lords use to defuse situations.
Jeena took her eyes off the two wizard scouts long enough to ask, “What families?”
“Their families,” Richard repeated as he pointed at the two battle suits floating overhead. “The Conglomerate’s board of directors is holding those two wizard scouts’ families hostage. The board’s threatening their loved ones to force them to obey. These two aren’t our enemies. We’ll need them in the future. I’m asking you not to hurt them. Please.”
The elf’s molten-silver eyes stared at Richard for a full dozen heartbeats. Finally, the movement of her eyes’ molten silver slowed, and the blue glow surrounding the two battle suits dimmed. With a wave of Jeena’s staff, the two wizard scouts began floating downward before landing in the molten asphalt near the two lead hover-vehicles. The wizard scouts’ heavy battle suits sank into the bubbling liquid until only their battle helmets remained exposed. Before the battle suits could do anything to extract themselves, the molten asphalt returned to a solid form.
Jeena looked away from the two scouts and locked eyes with Richard. “I will allow them to live, but only because you asked. I will not allow anyone to harm you, Rick. Not while breath is in my body.”
“Understood,” Richard said, thankful the beautiful high priestess was on his side. “As I you.” Switching his attention to the front hatch of the hover-vehicle, he shouted, “Come on out. You won’t like it if I have to come inside and get you.”
A hand reached out of the hatch, followed by the head of a gray-haired, balding man in his fifties. “I’m coming out. Don’t shoot.”
The thin frame of Felix Deloris scrambled out of the hatch to stand on the hover-vehicle’s surface. The man straightened and stared at Richard before speaking in the voice of someone resigned to their fate. “I suppose you’re going to kill me the same way you killed my sister. Well, get it over with. I tol
d the board they were wasting their time trying to get me out of the city. If Diane couldn’t stay out of your clutches, I knew there wasn’t any way I was going to remain safe.”
Richard shook his head. He thought back to how the now deceased Empress Diane Deloris had been sacrificed by the elf Kreathin, also known as Lord Crendemor, along with Richard’s own brother, Gaston Myers.
“I didn’t kill your sister,” Richard said, “and I’m not going to kill you. Something’s coming that is far worse than anything you can imagine.”
The balding Felix’s eyes narrowed. “Words are cheap. Why should I trust you? For that matter, why are you even wasting your breath talking to me? I’m already your prisoner.”
“We don’t have time for this,” said Nickelo in their shared space. “Trinity, Jerad, Tam, and Stella have the other hover-vehicles neutralized, but I detect that additional forces are on the way. If you want to get away from here without killing someone, the time to leave is now.”
“Roger that,” Richard said. “Sound the recall. Have Asquan and Timerman bring the X-shuttle in. It’s time to go.”
Wasting no more time on Felix Deloris, Richard nodded his head at Jeena. She holstered her pistol before waving her right hand and saying a word he heard but quickly forgot. A blue ball of magic shot out of her hand and struck the thin man in the chest.
Felix stiffened before falling to the hover-vehicle’s metal surface.
A roar behind Richard announced the arrival of the X-shuttle. He turned to see a shimmer in the air as the shuttle materialized and settled down on the city street. Debris was still blowing in all directions when the shuttle’s rear ramp dropped. Richard’s fellow wizard scouts immediately began running toward the shuttle. As they ran, he glanced behind them to see three more hover-vehicles up to their turrets in molten asphalt along the city street.
Pointing at the stiff form of Felix Deloris, Richard glanced at Jeena. “Take him onboard the shuttle.”
His bondmate’s raised eyebrows were immediately accompanied by an emotion of irritation coming through their bond link.
“Uh…please, Jeena. I’ll be along in a second.”
The high priestess’s eyebrows lowered as she cast a levitation spell on the paralyzed brother of the deceased empress. Richard watched long enough to see her run toward the X-shuttle while dragging the levitated Felix behind her, using a form of magic-based telekinesis.
“You need to get on the shuttle as well,” reminded Nickelo.
“Give me a second,” Richard said. “I’ve got something to do first.”
Jumping off the hover-vehicle, Richard sprinted to the intersection where Jeena had trapped the two lead vehicles. He stopped in front of the two wizard scouts also trapped there. Only their battle helmets were above ground, but Richard sensed the suits’ occupants alive and well inside. Kneeling down, he spoke to his brother and sister in arms using the external speakers of his battle helmet.
“I disconnected the links to your Power reserves. That’s why you can’t self-heal. You’re both too dangerous to set free right now. As soon as I’m a safe distance away, I’ll undo what I’ve done to your links. Once I do, your self-heals will repair your spinal cords.”
A male voice came out of the external speaker on the right-most battle helmet. “You’ve just killed my family, Shepard. I swear I’ll hunt you down wherever you go. There’s no place to hide where I can’t find you.”
Richard stared through Wizard Scout McDonald’s visor. He could just make out the man’s angry eyes. “I’ve got a message for the Conglomerate’s board of directors. I want you to give it to them personally. Tell them that Wizard Scout Richard Shepard said if they so much as harm one hair on your or any other wizard scouts’ family, on my word of honor as a wizard scout I’ll take every one of the board members to a place that’s as close to hell as they can possibly imagine. The demons there will torture them for thousands of years. Not even death will be able to release them from their agony. You tell them that if they test me on this, it will be the biggest mistake they ever make.”
“Rick, come on,” came Jerad’s shout.
Richard glanced over his shoulder to see his friend standing on the ramp of the X-shuttle. Jeena stood next to him waving with her staff.
He turned back to the two scouts. “The empress is dead. We didn’t kill her. Those who did are coming, and when they get here, there won’t be a safe place in the galaxy for any living creature to hide. Our only chance is to work together. That means the Empire, the Trecorians, the Conglomerate, the Carsoloians, and every other race including the Crosioians. I want you to tell the board of directors that Matthew Deloris is going to contact them. When he does, they had better listen, or I swear they’ll regret it for the rest of eternity.”
Richard stood and switched the visor of his helmet to clear. He gave what he hoped was a friendly smile. “By the way, the next time we meet, I’ll show both of you how to defend against the trick I used to disable the links to your Power reserves. We’re on the same side. When you see our real enemies, you’ll know I’m telling the truth. Until then, you’ll just have to take my word for it.” With that, he took off running for the X-shuttle’s ramp.
The teenage elf-pilot Asquan hit the emergency close for the ramp. The rapidly shutting ramp sent Richard flying forward onto the shuttle’s deck. Before he could stand, the X-shuttle shot up into the air, throwing him back hard into the rear ramp.
“Hmm,” said Nickelo in their shared space. “I calculate your friend Tia has been showing Asquan and Timerman how to take off without wasting time. I’ll bet it makes you feel all warm and cozy on the inside knowing that the younger generation is teaching each other, doesn’t it?”
“Yeah,” Richard said, finally regaining his feet. “I—”
“Hang on!” shouted the teenage orc Timerman sitting in the copilot’s seat. “I’m activating the hyper-drive…now!”
Richard got another close-up view of the X-shuttle’s metal deck. “You know what?” he said to no one in particular as he rose to all fours and crawled to his seat. “Next time I need a quick escape, I think I’ll take a hover-tram.”
Chapter 2 – An Ally
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As the X-shuttle made its way to the rendezvous point to meetup with the Defiant, Jeena traded Power with her bondmate who was sitting next to her in the shuttle. Neither Richard nor she was low on Power at the moment, but given the circumstances, she had no desire to waste any opportunity to recharge.
The red-gemmed ring on Jeena’s left hand tingled. “I calculate that is a wise course of action,” Danny the battle computer said in her mind. “We are at war. A fight could pop up at the most inconvenient time.”
“Is there ever a good time for a battle?” Jeena asked. “If it was up to me, Rick and I would settle down on the Thoraxens’ family farm and raise medicinal herbs for the rest of our lives. I would be quite content living such a life with my bondmate.”
“Well, do not get your hopes up,” replied Danny from where he was embedded in Jeena’s ring. “I calculate Rick has awhile before he needs to start worrying about his golden-retirement years. Also, I am not so sure you should plan your future on raising medicinal herbs. Wizard Scout Terrie Shatstot was left in your elf city of Silverton to start a training school for elf healers. If Rick is right, Terrie should be able to train your medics to heal elves using pure Power instead of magic.”
Jeena hoped the ex-battle computer was right. Too many elves had died over the years because they couldn’t be magically healed.
“We’re two minutes from the rendezvous point,” came Timerman’s voice from the front of the shuttle. “I’m deactivating the shuttle’s stealth shield so Sergeant Ron will be able to see us.”
Jeena cast a wordless spell and reached out with her senses. She detected a disturbance a half-dozen light seconds ahead. She turned on the bench seat to look at the orc teenager. “The Defiant should be coming out of hyperspace at your one
o’clock. Be prepared just in case it’s not her.”
A sight reticle appeared on the forward screen as Timerman targeted the forward missile tubes and gun arrays on the spot. The orc angled the shuttle’s shields for optimum efficiency. Jeena was impressed.
Richard leaned over on the bench seat next to her and whispered in her ear, “He’s picked up a lot in the short time he’s been in the Defiant’s crew. Heck, he knows a lot more about the weapons and shielding on the Defiant and the X-shuttle than I do. So does Asquan, for that matter.”
Jeena smiled. One thing she’d learned about her bondmate during their short time together was that he occasionally had a slight inferiority-complex problem. She turned and whispered in his ear, “That is their jobs, my bondmate, not yours. Each of us has our specialties. I discovered long ago that elves…err, and humans and orcs working together are able to do a lot more as a team than any of us are able to accomplish individually.”
“Don’t forget Sterilians,” hissed Stella through the translator on her battle helmet.
Jeena’s smile grew larger. She’d forgotten how sensitive Sterilians’ ears were. She looked over at the lizard-looking wizard scout sitting on the bench seat across from her. Stella was just pulling on her battle suit’s boots. Jeena noticed the other wizard scouts putting on their battle suits as well. Her bondmate had finished changing a few seconds earlier.
“I could never forget either Charlie or you,” Jeena assured her Sterilian friend. She laughed. “Anyone who has seen you swinging those four phase rods at the same time could never forget to include you as a valuable member of their team.”
Wizard Defender (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 8) Page 2
