by J. J. Green
“I’m still working on the details with Cadwallader,” Carina replied. “When it comes to the actual thing, we decided the best approach is to fly the shuttle into the range during daylight so Castiel can direct us to the hidden entrance. Darius will Cloak the shuttle so we won’t be seen.”
“Yes!” the little boy interjected, punching the air.
“After Stevenson drops us off he’ll return to the ship. It’s unlikely there’s going to be anywhere to set down out there, and even if there was we wouldn’t be able to hide the evidence that a vessel has landed. Then we’ll wait until dark to approach the castle. But for the rehearsals we don’t have to worry about most of that, only the approach over mountain terrain. What we’ll be practicing is infiltrating the castle, taking out the guards, and searching the place for information about mages.”
“Do you think they will have left anything behind for us to find?” Parthenia asked. “I mean, why would they?”
“I agree it’s possible there’s nothing there,” Carina admitted. “If so, we’ll be back to square one. But there’s still the religious artifacts on Ostillon. They might hold some clues. Maybe we can steal the originals and see if we can glean some information that way.”
“I thought mages weren’t supposed to steal?” Darius asked.
“Huh,” Castiel said. “Carina’s stolen the Zenobia’s entire hold of contraband. How do you think she’s paying the Black Dogs?”
“Is that true, Carina?” Darius asked, his large, deep brown eyes wide and fixed on her.
“Er,” she said. She couldn’t deny it.
Castiel was smirking as he waited for her answer.
“We are giving the things Lomang was smuggling to the Black Dogs,” said Carina finally. “But they’re things that should never be bought or sold anyway, and Lomang was going to enslave us.”
“And what about the religious artifacts?” Castiel asked, folding his arms. “I’m sure they have deep spiritual significance to the people of Ostillon.”
“Yeah, people who invaded an occupied planet and drove the mages into hiding,” said Bryce.
Carina said, “Darius, I don’t have a good reason to justify what we’re doing. Two wrongs don’t make a right, and if we weren’t in the position we’re in I wouldn’t even contemplate what I’m proposing. But mages have been pushed into a corner for no fault of their own, just for living their lives the best way they can. It’s long past the time we made a stand and took back what should be ours: the right to live free of the fear of persecution and enslavement. And if I have to break a few rules to achieve that, so be it.”
“I don’t mind breaking any rules,” said Ferne.
Oriana punched his shoulder.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Carina lowered Darius’s visor and stepped back. Her brother looked incredibly cute in his little EVA suit. They were in the Duchess’s shuttle bay with the other mages, gearing up for the rehearsal.
“Take a small sip of elixir to check the feed is working,” she said.
“I can hear you inside my helmet!” Darius exclaimed.
“Yes, we’ll all be able to hear each other when the rehearsal starts, so you have to be careful not to talk unless it’s about something important. If you want to talk to anyone one-on-one you have to give a voice command. Don’t worry about that for now. Just try to sip some elixir.”
He closed his lips around the end of the straw that protruded near his mouth, then gave Carina a thumbs-up.
“Great,” she said.
The other kids had finished putting on their suits.
“All the weapons are in training mode,” she told them. “Don’t adjust the settings or you could hurt someone. If you get hit an alarm will sound, once for a non-lethal injury and twice for a fatal wound—though in reality any hit would probably be lethal because it would breach your suit and you’d suffocate.”
“Now then, Carina,” Bryce said dryly. “Don’t candy-coat it just because they’re kids. Tell it like it really is.”
“If you receive a non-lethal hit,” said Carina, ignoring him, “you can move for…Let’s say three minutes, slowly. If you hear the alarm sound twice, lie down. You’re dead.”
“I’m gonna shoot you all,” Castiel said, moving to draw his pulse gun from its holster under his arm.
Carina was on him in a flash. She snatched the weapon from his hand.
“No gun for you this time around,” she said.
“Hey!” Castiel protested. “I was only kidding.”
Carina leaned into the boy so their visors were touching. “You never play around with weapons. Not ever. I don’t care if you’re still a kid. These are not toys. And if you can’t understand that basic fact, you stay behind when we go to Ostillon. Maybe you stay behind forever.”
“I won’t let you leave me there!” Castiel exclaimed. “I won’t allow it. I’ll take Nahla again!”
“That’s it,” said Carina. “Take off your suit. You’re going back to the Zenobia.”
“No, I didn’t mean it! Honestly, I didn’t!”
“You’re done. You had your chance and you messed up. This rehearsal is too important to waste any more time on your nonsense. Go back to the ship.”
“Please,” said Castiel. “I…I’m sorry. I promise I won’t do anything else. I don’t even want the gun back. I know I was stupid and I’m sorry.”
“No,” Carina said. She turned to her other siblings. “The rest of you get in the shuttle. The mercs will be along in a minute.”
Castiel’s shoulders sagged. He looked regretful and forlorn, but Carina didn’t believe he was genuine. Even if the boy really had decided to try to reform, he clearly remained full of bitterness and spite. She wasn’t confident he could ever overcome it, and she wasn’t going to sacrifice the other kids’ safety to make him feel better about himself.
“Maybe you should let him come,” Parthenia said. “He did apologize.”
“Yeah,” said Ferne. “He was only messing around. I’d hate to be left behind. Nahla’s coming along even though she won’t be taking part.”
Nahla was going to remain on the shuttle with Stevenson while the rest of them carried out the rehearsal.
Ferne’s input surprised Carina. Of all the siblings he seemed to dislike Castiel the most.
“What do you think, Bryce?” she asked.
He shrugged. “Up to you.”
Thanks for the support, she thought. “Okay, Castiel. You can come, but step one foot out of line and you’re going straight back to the shuttle.”
Castiel mumbled something that sounded like “Thanks,” and for once his tone wasn’t sarcastic.
Carina still didn’t trust him.
***
The ride down to the unnamed, uncharted rogue planet brought back memories of Carina’s merc days. The bare metal interior and cramped confines of the shuttle’s cabin were exactly as she remembered. Their EVA suits supplied their air so they couldn’t smell the cabin’s air, but the place probably stunk. There was no real reason for cleaning it.
After leaving the Duchess’s a-grav, they all bobbed against their harnesses, two long rows of mercs and mages, facing each other, no one speaking. Cadwallader sat in the place Captain Speidel had occupied on many of their shorter missions.
Carina recalled Smitz chewing that foul herb he loved so much and her trying to avoid the gobs of spit he would send out, and that time he’d tried to take her elixir, thinking it was water. She also recalled the merc bodies they had stowed in the well along the floor between the facing rows, as they took them back to the Duchess for formal burial.
The rogue planet’s gravitational force increased, and everyone sank onto the benches. Carina had warned the children they would feel much heavier while they were on the planet. Would they be able to cope? Perhaps not, after the initial novelty wore off.
Suddenly, the shuttle dropped, causing some of the kids to scream, though Carina thought they sounded more excited than scared. She me
ntally sighed. The rehearsal wasn’t supposed to be a fun exercise. She didn’t know how to make her siblings appreciate the real danger they would be facing when they attempted to penetrate the Dirksen defenses on Ostillon.
The shuttle dropped again, then juddered.
“Just a little turbulence,” Stevenson said over the comm. “Nothing to worry about.”
He’d suggested that Nahla ride up front with him in the co-pilot’s seat. Carina doubted anyone had ever shown the little girl so much attention. She was probably having the time of her life.
As they drew closer to the gravity well of their destination, everyone settled down on their benches. It wouldn’t be long until they landed, then the ‘enemy’ would take their positions.
Half the mercs taking part in the rehearsal wore bands that designated them as Dirksen troops and they would be identified as such on the visor HUDs. Carina and the other mages were playing themselves, and Bryce would be fighting alongside the friendly mercs. The aim was to attempt to enter a cavern that the enemy mercs would defend, using dummy arms fire and Casting.
After discussion with Cadwallader, Carina had suggested Casts the mages might use, primarily Transport, Fire (as a diversionary tactic), and Enthrall. Carina had contemplated using Darius’s new Guise Cast, but he was the only one who could do it and he didn’t know exactly when it would fade. She wanted to avoid exposing the little boy to excessive risk. She was uncomfortable enough with taking him along but she also knew his powers would be invaluable in a crisis.
Cadwallader had asked the inevitable question: could mages kill?
A gun is faster, she had replied. It was her standard, non-committal response. She wasn’t about to ask her siblings to kill anyone. If they had to, under threat of losing their own life, they knew how. After seeing their father die, they didn’t need reminding of the appropriate Cast. Cadwallader hadn’t pushed the issue.
“Touchdown in three minutes,” said Stevenson.
The gravitational pull had been steadily increasing as they descended. The mercs didn’t remark upon it as they were used to non-standard gravities.
“I’m getting squashed!” Darius exclaimed. He lifted an arm. “My arm is heavy.”
“It’s going to be harder for you all to move around,” Carina reminded the kids. “If it gets to be too much, let me know then go back to the shuttle and rest. I don’t want you to fall down or have some other kind of accident while we’re here. The EVA suits are tough but they aren’t impregnable.”
A short while later, the shuttle gave a brief shudder as it landed. The exit portal swung up.
“I didn’t think it would be dark,” Oriana said.
The landscape outside was nearly indiscernible. Black humps stood out against the brilliant stars of the background.
“What did you expect?” asked Ferne. “There’s no sun.”
“Your helmet lights will come on when you step outside,” Carina said. “It’s better this way. Our attempt to enter the Dirksen mountain castle will take place at night too.”
“Let’s go!” Darius unfastened his safety harness.
“Wait,” said Carina. “Our enemies have to take their positions.”
Cadwallader had already ordered the mercs who were playing the adversaries to exit the vessel. The ‘friendly’ team left next. Finally, it was the mages’ turn to walk down the ramp that led outside.
Carina followed the kids, her HUD displaying a rapidly dropping temperature and adjusting atmospheric gas levels. The temperature stabilized at one degree C. The atmosphere was composed almost entirely of hydrogen.
Like a line of extremely disciplined fireflies, the lights of the ‘enemy’ mercs were already departing across the landscape. Cadwallader was going with them. Atoi was to be the CO for the friendly mercs. The imbalance in experience between the two commanding officers was probably deliberate on Cadwallader’s part. He wanted to make the task as difficult for the attackers as possible.
With the mages’ scant exposure to combat, that wouldn’t be hard.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Atoi was leading them toward a high ridge that overlooked the cavern entrance, probably guessing that Cadwallader would have posted lookouts along the easiest, most obvious routes. To avoid detection by the enemy, she’d ordered them to turn off their helmet lights, so they were traveling on night vision. Starlight glimmered brightly on the EVA suits and visors. Ahead of Carina a line of figures snaked across the dull black mountainside.
She was bringing up the rear, last of the mages. They’d been going for half an hour or so, and she was breathing heavily in the one-point-six g. She hadn’t realized she’d gotten so out of shape. All the mages were beginning to lag behind the mercs.
She opened a channel to only her siblings. “Hurry up. This is a team effort, remember? Don’t let your fellow soldiers down.”
Oriana was the only one to reply. “I’m so heavy. I’m never eating flannock fishcakes again.”
“You don’t even like flannock fishcakes,” said Ferne.
The aim of the rehearsal was to penetrate all the enemy’s defenses. As a practice for the real thing it was barely adequate but they didn’t know what they would be looking for or where to find it if they did manage to get inside the mountain castle, so they had to improvise as best they could. At least the mages would have the opportunity to become accustomed to operating in a battle situation.
“Halt,” said Atoi.
They had to be near the cavern. Carina peered over the edge of the ledge but at first all she could see was the rough side of the mountain. Then a ragged mouth seemed to open in the mountain’s face. Two figures stood just inside the entrance. Easy targets.
“Captain, do you want the mages to take those two guards out?” Carina asked Atoi.
“You read my mind,” the other woman replied. “And if you can do it without alerting any of the others, the kids get to play with Jackson’s prosthesis.”
“Hey!” came Jackson’s protest over the comm.
“I’ll do it!” yelled Ferne.
“Shh,” said Carina. “Wait for the order. Do you see who we mean?”
“Uh huh,” Ferne replied. “I’ll Enthrall the one on the left and Oriana can do the other.”
A few moments later, he said, “Done.”
“Mine too,” said Oriana.
“Is that it?” Atoi asked. “They don’t look any different.”
“That’s what you wanted, isn’t it?” Carina asked. “When they see us appear they won’t react, and they’ll do whatever you tell them for the next ten minutes to an hour.”
“I guess we have to trust you,” Atoi said. “Okay, troops, rappel down to the entrance and storm the place. Kill those two at the entrance first.”
“Kill them?” said Parthenia in a horrified tone. “But they aren’t dangerous now they’re Enthralled.”
“They aren’t dangerous yet,” Atoi corrected.
“You don’t need to rappel down,” Carina said. “I can Cast to move you all faster. Just tell me where.”
“Uh, okay,” She related the positions she wanted the troops, which were basically just out of sight of the entrance.
Carina had moved more soldiers and further at the disastrous defense of the embassy. This time they were all in sight, which made the task easier. “Right, get ready,” she told them. “And don’t panic. I don’t want you falling over when you hit the ground in this high-g and breaking a leg.” She sucked elixir through her helmet tube and sent out the Cast.
Exclamations of surprise and colorful cursing came over the comm as the mercs found themselves floating through the atmosphere and down the cliff face.
The children giggled.
Carina set them down gently. “Now it’s our turn,” she said to the kids.
As the mercs set off at a run toward the cavern entrance, she and the children lowered themselves to the spot the mercs had just left.
“C’mon,” she said as soon as they landed. “Le
t’s go.”
“I can’t run,” Oriana complained. “I can barely walk.”
Despite her complaints the young girl picked up her pace. Up ahead, the battle’s pulse fire flashed from the cavern entrance.
“It would make more sense for us to lead the attack,” Parthenia puffed. “If we Enthralled or Transported everyone we saw, no one would get hurt.”
“Don’t be stupid,” said Castiel. “They’re soldiers. They’re paid to die.”
“All of you, be quiet,” Carina barked. “We go in second this time. That’s the plan.”
They would try it the other way around next time, with additional strategies from Cadwallader to rehearse.
Atoi comm’d that the cavern entrance was clear.
“Darius, behind me,” Carina directed. “The rest of you, flank me as I told you earlier.”
Every mage except Darius carried a weapon. Carina didn’t trust any seven-year-old not to shoot someone or themselves by accident, and though all the weapons were set to practice mode, she didn’t want Darius to become accustomed to having one. She would protect him—with her life if necessary.
Parthenia and Castiel took the two positions farthest from Carina, and Oriana and Ferne walked nearest to her. The ability to sip elixir and keep their hands free was an advantage that Carina had never appreciated before. But then, mages usually had no cause to be toting a gun and Casting simultaneously.
The two guards Oriana and Ferne had Enthralled were sitting outside the entrance, ‘killed’ by Atoi’s troops. As they walked inside, Carina saw two more pairs of boots behind rocks, which her HUD also marked as ‘dead’. Cadwallader’s battle strategy didn’t seem to be working too well, but Carina guessed there was more to what he was doing than met the eye.
Flashes from the opening at the back of the cavern spoke of a second encounter. Atoi’s advance had met resistance.
