Starship Magic 3: Abducted

by Mark Brandon Powell

  Kat can feel the storm growing inside her. She isn’t sure what to do with it, but Ice told her that she would be there to guide her through her subconscious. Kat grabs hold and embraces the storm. Gripping her fists tightly, drawing them into her chest, she thrusts them forward opening he palms toward the Foremid droids. Icy wind howls out from her finger tips. She can feel the vibrations down to her bones as the spell rages out of her open palms. The droids get covered and pelted with ice, freezing them in place. The storm dies down, and Kat’s hands slump to her sides.

  Jinx says, “Wow, nice job.”

  Kat can still feel the vibration in her hands, but just shakes them a little before grabbing the assault blaster from her side. She is still feeling uneasy about these new powers, but having the gun in her hand calms her a bit. She just really wishes that she could have brought Whisper and Fury with her.

  She says, “We still need to get out of here.”

  Mark says, “I think I can help with that now that the power is back on.”

  “Oh really. Isn’t that convenient, again.”

  “Really. Remember the door Jack couldn’t open and got locked. The one that would lead us right to the lab without having to go around.”

  “Yes.”

  “I could open it the whole time. So we can just go through it on the way out.”

  “And where is this magic door. The only entrance and exit is right over there.” Kat says while pointing with the barrel of her gun to the door with the now frozen droids around it.

  Mark smiles and walks over to the left of the containment chamber that they just pulled Terra from. Jinx takes a step closer to Kat as Mark raises his hands, removing his white gloves. He places his hands on the metal wall. Six nearly translucent hands emerge out of his back, stretching out across to different panels on the wall. Jinx is now standing with Terra on her left side, and her body between theirs and Mark’s. Kat stares at the ghost like appendages. Once each hand is in place, a green light appears under each. A section of the wall then slides into the floor revealing another door.

  Mark says as his ghostly appendages slink back into body, “This is what I was originally going to do after taking care of you in the power room. Escape from here and get your ship. The effects of the magi-tech bomb should be worn off by now.”

  Kat says, “Don’t you know that the ship might not even be ready when we get there?”

  Jinx says starring daggers at Mark, “It won’t be a problem for him. Will it?”

  Mark smiles, “No, it won’t. I am a Master after all.”

  Kat rubs her forehead, “Look just someone explain it all to me once we get out of here.”

  The frozen door opens with a tall skinny twig of a woman behind it. Four ghostly hands grab at the walls pulling her into the room, her feet not touching the floor. Her black eyes scan the room with bright orange irises, which makes Kat think she’s looking at a machine. Two hands are holding her up, as the other two are clearing away the ice and frost faster than Kat covered them in it. Mark ducks behind Jinx, pulling his shades out of his pocket and quickly putting them back on.

  Jinx Whispers to Kat, “It’s an engineer, we need to get out of here now. Just move slowly toward the door.”

  Kat nods.

  The first droid breaks free of the frost scanning the room. It makes an alarm noise pointing its four arms toward Kat’s group.

  Kat pulls up her blaster rifle pulling the trigger. Laser rounds fire off blasting holes through the far left droid. The engineer’s eyes focus on Kat, and then her weapon. Kat points her barrel at the engineer squeezing her finger around the trigger. Ghostly arms appear in front of her as a blur of motion with the droid she just riveted thrown at the engineer all before she could pull her trigger.

  Mark yells, “Run!”

  Jinx grabs her arm and pulls her toward the newly opened door with Mark leading the way out. The thud of an explosion hits her before the sound confirms it. Fire spills out of the door and into the hallway as it curves away. Heat washes over her like a wave as the lights in the hallway change from white to yellow.

  Jinx says to Mark, “You better be able to open that door.”

  He replies, “I can, I just won’t know if I’ll be opening or dismantling.”

  They reach the door and Mark gets to work on the key pad next to the door. Jinx watches him closely. Kat turns her attention down the hallway. She can’t help but feel that she heard a small noise in the distance, but it could just be the ringing from the explosion. Two silver and copper balls come into view.

  Kat thinks, ‘Of course I was right, I just wish that I could be wrong about things like this every now and again.’ Then says while pulling her blaster back up, “Any time on the door would be great, we got incoming.”

  Mark says extending the word out, “Almost.”

  Kat doesn’t give the droids time to uncurl and starts blasting. Three rounds strike the closer of the two, stopping it. The other stops short of being hit, unfurling its arms and legs changing its trajectory. It grabs onto the walls and ceiling avoiding each shot. Kat lowers the blaster, reaching inside her for another spell, but nothing is there. The droid lunges at her.

  Kat manages to get out a panicked, “Help.”

  She feels Graven’s hand wrap around her arm as Jinx pulls her to the side with her other hand balled in a fist. The look on her face is the same as it was the first time that she got to see his power in action on Tarus. Jinx was always in there, which gives her a little hope that Graven still is too.

  Jinx connects the punch in the center of the droid with a crunch of metal. The droid falls to the ground with it’s lights flickering. It’s arms and legs still try to pull it forward toward the group. Jinx kicks it back down the hallway from where it came and it bounces off the other.

  Mark says, “Now that’s done, I’ve already got the door open.”

  23

  Kat pushes past Mark, opening the door. It was just like Mark told her it was going to be. The large hallway they started at with the exit just on the other side. Hanna and Jack are sitting on the ground next to the exit with a warrior in between them. They both look out of breath, but Kat is relieved to see them both alive.

  She yells out, “Hanna, Jack. You’re both alright.”

  They turn and smile at her.

  Hanna says, “He wasn’t as hard as he looked.”

  The lights turn from yellow to orange as a distant alarm sounds.

  Mark says, “Yes we are all alive, lets keep going so we can stay that way. I haven’t been planning my escape for the last decade just to get killed during the getaway.”

  Kat gives him a stern look. “I hate to say this, but I think he’s right. You two ok enough to get out of here on you’re own?”

  Hanna says, “I think so, but we’re both tapped out. As long as we don’t run into anything on the way out we should be fine.”

  Jack agrees, “What she said. This whole magic thing is great, but does it ever wear you out.”

  The lights switch to green and holes open up around the exit door and lab door they just came out of. Flying droids and ball droids flood out of the holes. Kat tells the group to focus on the way out. Six balls pop open in front of the door with four of the dragonfly looking droids hovering around them. Jack and Hanna pick up their blasters and start firing. Jinx runs at the group of six, and Kat reaches into her pack for the last emp grenade.

  Kat throws the grenade in the middle of the larger group forming behind them. The droids look at it and look back at Kat. The ball droid closet to it opens up its chest cavity and places it inside before it explodes. It vibrates and falls to the ground as the grenade goes off. Kat turns back to see Jinx in the middle of a marital arts feat. Her feet are both above her head connecting with two separate droids, crushing their centers in, with one fist connecting to a third while the other hand is on the ground.

  Mark grabs one of the crushed-yet-still-working droids with all four his extra hands he has out. They
move so fast over the droid that it looks as though its covered in a haze. It takes less than twenty seconds for Mark to fix the droid and send it at the others. The newly fixed machine starts to fire off blue blaster rounds from the tips of its arms taking down a couple of its former brethren.

  Marks then turns to Kat and says, “Give me your gun.”

  Kat answers, “Kind of busy right now. Do what ever you just did again with another of those droids.”

  “Can’t I used parts from them, now hand me your gun before more show up.”

  Unslinging the gun from her shoulder and handing it over felt weird in the middle of a fight. The area that she was covering now handled by everyone else while waiting for Mark to do whatever it is he’s doing. She looks down each side of the hallway, and every few feet there is two openings where more droids are coming out. A larger one toward the floor and a smaller on at the ceiling.

  He says, “Finished. This should give it more.”

  Kat asks. “More what?”

  “You’ll see. Just fire the thing.”

  Slinging it back over her head she slips her hand around the grip of the gun. Everything still felt similar to a few seconds ago, the grip was even still warm. She slides her finger around the trigger and aims at another of the droids that are still flooding out of the nearby walls. There was a little more kick in than she was used to, and only a single blue laser shot out. The edges of the beam were more jagged, and as it connects with her target it explodes.

  She looks over to Mark and he smiles while quickly explaining he adjusted a few of the guns inner workings to make it a single shot but gave it more impact. Which was fine with her, it felt more like firing Fury, just heavier. Mark went on to Jack and Hanna, adjusting each of their guns. The encroaching droids were much easier to hold off without the automatic setting. Each shot from Kat’s blaster could take out two to three of them because of how close they are together.

  Once all the guns get upgraded the hallway gets clear of hostiles. The only sound is the labored breathing of the group. Kat looks around, making sure its clear to run, and the piles of robotic parts are littering the floor.

  She says, “Time to move. We lost a lot of time here.”

  Jack says, “I agree, but it’s better we took all these out here than try to fight them on the run.”

  “Hope so.”

  The door that leads through the cave tunnel was still unlocked and empty. Along the walls were new scorch and blaster marks with some divots here and there. As Kat leads the group out, she looks back and Jack and Hanna glad they were ok. Now all they had to do was head back to resurrection site to give Jinx the two minutes she needs to get out of Graven. Then, if they are lucky, Knox, Whisper, and Fury have fixed the ship so they can get out of here.

  Terra was still knocked-out*, but that was for the best so far, Kat thinks. No matter what this child was experimented on for, there was no need to use her. She needs to have the chance to be a kid.

  Reaching the outside door, its still light out. Kat can see the blackout panel is getting closer. If things get dark they’ll be at a disadvantage, which means they need to hurry.

  They head back up the hill they rolled down. All that is going through Kat’s head as she takes each step is getting Graven back. She already got Terra, now all she needs is him here, in control of his body.

  The site comes into view as they crest the hill. Everything looks like they are in the clear. The trees around the area provide good cover, and the ship isn’t too far either.

  Kat says, “Alright everyone, we’re going to try to give Jinx another shot at this. Lets hope there aren’t any interruptions like last time.”

  Jinx says, “Kat are you sure about this. I don’t think we have time.”

  “We have too. You said it yourself, if you don’t get out of Graven, then you’re stuck in there. We need Graven, and you need your own body.”

  Hanna says, “Kat’s right. We don’t leave crew behind. Ever.”

  Jack smiles and places his hand on Jinx’s shoulder. Just nodding his head.

  Jinx nods back.

  Kat says, “Guns hot. We are still on the run here.”

  The stone archway was still there, just with a few chunks of stone missing. It was the wall next to the entrance she heard crumble running away from the warrior. Everything else seemed to be ok. Jack and Hanna wait near the entrance with Mark. Kat and Jinx head into the center, placing Terra gently in the walkway.

  Kat still remembered the instructions, placing her hand where Jinx’s sphere was, right next to Graven’s heart. All she had to do now is wait for Jinx to say the words and catch her sphere when it came out. Then Graven would be back.

  Jinx starts to recite the incantation, which is still as beautiful sounding as the first time. A white light shines behind Kat’s hand, and she can feel the warmth coming from it. Only a few more moments.

  Kat feels a hand press against her stomach right before she gets pushed into the wall six feet behind her. Four fully armored warriors drop out of the sky, landing where Jinx and Kat had just been. Kat grabs her gun from behind her back and aims at the closest.

  The blaster connects with it’s head but the second connects with a metal shield that opens clockwise. Before she could get a third shot off three of the four were surrounding her, with the one she fired at holding the barrel of the blaster in her hands. It bends her blaster into an unusable state and rips if from her hands.

  The other two grab her arms and shove her into the wall. There was something like a joke between the three because they all laugh. Kat might not understand their language, but she gets what’s about to happen. They think she is just a helpless human and they’re about to rip her apart like they did to all of those mages back on Ragnarok.

  Kat wants to prove them wrong, but she is physically weaker than they are. Which she confirms by trying to struggle out of their grip. She tries to search for that inner storm but everything is calm. The warrior she shot looks like its stretching. In-between the stretches, she can see Jinx fighting the fourth warrior, but can’t tell who’s winning. Then there’s the blaster fire from outside of the resurrection site, which must be Jack and Hanna.

  The stretching warrior walks over to Kat, placing a finger under her chin, raising her head to meet up with his helmet. She could feel the shit eating grin on the other side as it pulls back its arm.

  Mark walks into the site and catches Kat’s gaze. He balls his hands into fists, pulling them up to his face then bringing them down to his sides. More ghostly arms than she can count come flying out of his back.

  Kat’s surprise must have alerted the warrior because it turns from her to see what she’s looking at just in time to see the ball of fists launch it into the sky. The other two release Kat, and she falls to her knee. Two more balled ghost fists fly in, and Kat makes a dash for Jinx.

  Both Jinx and the warrior she was fighting are on the ground. She was still breathing heavily, but it didn’t.

  Kat says, “We’ve got to get to the ship.”

  Jinx sits up and opens her mouth, but stops short of saying anything and just nods.

  Mark is breathing heavy himself but Kat just runs by him saying, “Time to go.”

  He says, “You’re welcome.”

  Terra is unmoved from when they placed her on the ground, and is still sleeping peacefully. Jack and Hanna are both sitting on the ground around two warriors. The ground and nearby trees are covered in scorch and burn marks.

  Jack looks up to Kat and says, “Ok those were tough. Can we go now please?”

  Hanna agrees.

  The group starts to run toward the ship. Kat pulls out the communicator and tries to use it, but still no luck. No worrying about that right now, they are about to be there.

  Emerging on the other side of the forest lets Kat see the Felicity again. The ship still seems to be in one piece and it doesn’t look under attack. So now the only thing she has to worry about is if they already overran it and are wa
iting for them inside. She shakes the thought away and tells everyone to get to the ship.

  Another couple of minutes running toward the ship lets Kat know she is almost out of gas. Her adrenaline is starting to wear off, and she’s going to start to feel everything she’s been through over the last few hours. When they finally reach the cargo bay door, it doesn’t open. It give her a bad feeling about what might be going on inside, but she pushes that aside and goes to the side panel to open the door. Placing her hand on the scanner opens an eye scanner and then she types in her four digit pin number 1215.

  The doors open with a hiss, which was good news that everything seemed to be working so far. Kat just hopes that everything on the inside is working as good as this door is. Then maybe, just maybe, they can get out of there without any more trouble.

  24

  Knox is waiting on the other side of the door as it touches the ground. Strapped down with the rocket launcher and the blaster cannon from the Armory. Once he sees Kat, the relief on his face releases some of the tension in her. Everyone loads onto the ship with relieved looks. Jinx heads for the Med-Bay with Terra with Jack and Hanna close behind.

  Kat asks, “Knox to some good news for me?”

  “Aye, I do.” He says with a smile. “Should be about twenty minutes and engines will be up and running like they never stopped in the first place.”

  “Twenty minutes!? We need to leave now.”

  “There isn’t anything else that I can do. The whole ship had to go through a system restart.”

  Mark says, “There might be something I can do.”

  Kat turns her head and looks over at Mark. He hadn’t even taken a step onto the docking ramp yet. Which makes her remember telling him not to take a step onto the ship without giving someone his coin.

  She say, “Alright. Knox take our guest Mark here to the engine room and see what he can do.”