Wizard Omega (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 4)

by Rodney Hartman

  “Here we are,” said Terrie. “By the way, the duke and duchess are having a formal ball in two weeks. Angela and I are going. I assume you’ve been invited.”

  “Uh, no,” Richard said smiling as he tried to picture himself on the floor of some ballroom. “It’s just as well since I don’t know how to dance.”

  Grinning, Terrie said, “Oh, I guess you must’ve been on extra duty the day they had that class at the Academy. My, my, what are they teaching you cadets nowadays?”

  As Richard was trying to think of some wisecrack response, the green door opened to reveal a tall, broad-shouldered woman with fiery-red hair and sparkling green eyes. Richard guessed the woman was nineteen or twenty standard years in age. From the light in her eyes when she looked at Terrie, he didn’t need to be told this was Angela.

  “Well, it’s about time you two showed up,” said Angela in a mock-scolding voice. “I was beginning to think you’d gone to some bar to ogle the girls and swap wizard-scout lies all night long.”

  “Oh, now, Angela,” said Terrie as he grabbed his wife and gave her a hug. “You know you’re the only girl I ever want to ogle.”

  “Yes, I do,” said Angela as she forced her way out of Terrie’s grip. “But it doesn’t hurt to remind you every once in a while.”

  Terrie gave Richard a wink. “See what I have to put up with. My only hope is she’ll get better as she matures.”

  “Ha!” snorted Angela. “And look at the pot calling the kettle black. I was more mature than you when I was five years old.”

  For the next hour, Richard was in continuous amazement at the banter between his ex-TAC officer and Angela. As Terrie had said, she was a strong force of nature, and she didn’t mind letting her opinions be known. Richard had met a few miners during his time with the mercenaries, and they all seemed to have a no-nonsense attitude. Richard supposed it was just part of being in a profession where they laid their lives on the line every single day. Mining was definitely a dangerous lifestyle. Of course, Richard couldn’t say anything. Being a wizard scout wasn’t the safest job in the galaxy either.

  After a delicious, home-cooked meal, Angela got up from the table and stepped into the small alcove they used for a kitchen. She came back carrying a tray with three steaming bowls of fruit cobbler adorned with a dab of cinnamon ice cream on top which was just beginning to melt.

  “Now I know you wizard scouts don’t need to eat to survive,” Angela said with a wink. “But I dare you to take a bite of this without licking the bowl clean. It’s my grandma’s own recipe, and I’m sworn to secrecy on pain of horrible death should I ever reveal the O’Reilly clan’s secret ingredients.”

  Terrie gave Richard an elbow in the side. “The thing is, I think she’s only half joking. I met a few of the O’Reilly clan at our wedding. They’re a rough lot if you ask me.”

  “Hush, now,” said Angela as she gave her husband a playful punch on the arm. “Don’t be feeding Rick any of your blarney.”

  “Blarney?” Richard asked. Once again he found himself missing his battle computer. Sometimes Nickelo came in handy interpreting for him.

  “In other words, bald-faced lies,” said Angela with a laugh. “Some of the stories he tells me about you wizard scouts makes me think he’s feeding me a lot of blarney.”

  “Well, could be,” Richard laughed. “But I’ve done and seen a lot of strange things since I’ve been a wizard scout.”

  “See, Angela,” laughed Terrie. “Not everything I tell you is a lie.” Terrie winked at Richard. “At least fifty percent of what I tell you has a grain of truth to it.”

  They ate their dessert with very little talking. Richard had to admit it was one of the most delicious things he’d ever eaten. When he complimented Angela on it, he could swear she blushed. Richard had a feeling she might look hard on the outside, but she was a kind soul on the inside where it counted.

  During the course of some after-dinner small talk, Richard said, “Terrie told me how you two met. I’ll bet it was frightening having those space pirates bombing you.”

  “Ha! Weren’t no space pirates,” said Angela with a wave of her hand. “I don’t give a hoot for space pirates. My momma told me I killed my first space pirate when I was three. The O’Reilly clan doesn’t need help handling space pirates.”

  Puzzled, Richard glanced at Terrie. “I thought you said–”

  “Oh, don’t go looking to him for answers,” said Angela. “He’s just going by what his official orders said. I was there, and I saw them up close. It wasn’t no space-pirate ship, and those four-armed goons in them weren’t no pirates I’ve ever seen.”

  “Then who were they?” Richard asked.

  “I don’t know,” admitted Angela. “But their destroyer had a black dragon with a red stripe painted on its bow.”

  “You mean a dreadnaught,” Richard corrected her. He was always amazed how civilians could mix up the various starships.

  “Don’t you be telling me what I mean, Mr. ‘I-know-everything’ Wizard Scout,” said Angela sounding affronted. “My uncle served in the navy. I know the difference between a dreadnaught and a destroyer. It had four missile tubes on the stern and bow. It also had double main batteries fore and aft. But they didn’t look like normal plasma cannons to me.”

  Richard tried to play back Sergeant Ron’s tale of his encounter with the black starship. He was sure Sergeant Ron had said it was a dreadnaught.

  “Angela’s right, Rick,” said Terrie. “I wasn’t as close to the ship as Angela, but it was about the size of one of the Empire’s M-class destroyers. And the weapons were strange. They weren’t plasma weapons.”

  “You said they used nukes,” Richard said.

  “Well, I said that because I didn’t know what else to call them,” said Terrie with a shrug of his shoulders. “They had a hell of a wallop. I definitely know that. And, the radiation or energy or whatever the hell they released did a number on my Power reserve. I’ve never experienced anything like it.”

  “Angela,” Richard said trying to be considerate but needing information. “You said something about the pri– ah…, the attackers having four arms. We’re they Sterilians?”

  Angela shook her head. “No way. They were in armored suits so I didn’t get a good look at their face, but they weren’t Sterilians. However, they all had the same red-striped, black-dragon insignia painted on their armor.”

  Richard sensed Terrie looking at him. When Richard looked in his ex-TAC officer’s direction, sure enough, he saw he was being watched.

  “What?” Richard said immediately feeling a little self-conscious.

  “You know something, don’t you, Rick?” said Terrie. “Why’d you say it was a dreadnaught?”

  Richard weighed his mission. It had been given by Councilwoman Deloris, not the Imperial High Command. And, he hadn’t been briefed on any security requirements. He was just supposed to find something out about the black dreadnaught or a possible source of DNA gas. Richard had a feeling he’d been thrust into a situation where everything was falling into place a little too readily. He smelled the stink of ‘the One’ all over everything.

  “All right, Terrie,” Richard conceded. “I know a little more. I’ll share what I know. But let me ask you something first. Who gave you your orders to go rescue these miners? Did the orders come verbally from the Imperial High Command? Or, were they encrypted orders transmitted through the central computer?”

  With a little hesitancy, Terrie said, “I was in a shuttle in deep space. So, no, they weren’t verbal orders. They were sent through the central computer, but they were encrypted with the Imperial High Command’s security code. They couldn’t have been forged if that’s what you’re getting at.”

  Again Richard wished he had his battle computer with him. His brain was going a hundred kilometers an hour trying to sort things out. He didn’t believe for one second Terrie’s orders had come from the Imperial High Command. The central computer was part of ‘the One’. The quest
ion was why was ‘the One’ interested in the black-dragon starship, and why had he been sent to Trecor. Richard had a funny feeling even Councilwoman Deloris was unwittingly being used as a tool for ‘the One’.

  “Well?” Terrie said interrupting Richard’s thoughts. “I answered your question, now how about you answering mine.”

  Richard explained about Sergeant Ron’s encounter with the dreadnaught with the red-striped dragon insignia and the death of his wife and crew.

  “That was forty or fifty years ago,” Terrie pointed out. “Maybe those four-armed creatures Angela saw replaced their ship.”

  “Maybe,” Richard said.

  Turning to Angela, Richard said, “If you don’t mind my asking, what were you mining when the black ship attacked?”

  Angela looked down at her empty bowl and played with the spoon for a few seconds. Then she raised her head to look at her husband as if seeking advice.

  “Angela,” said Terrie in a soft voice. “Do you know something you haven’t told me?”

  Richard saw Angela give a nod so slight it was barely noticeable.

  “I know you haven’t known Rick long,” said Terrie keeping his voice gentle. “But, he’s been involved in some pretty heavy-duty stuff over the years. He’s probably one of the best, if not the best, wizard scout in the galaxy. If you know something, I think you should tell him.”

  Angela looked down at her bowl again. Finally, she turned to Richard and looked him dead in the eyes.

  “All right, Rick,” said Angela in a cold voice which was deadly serious. “But this stays here in Trecor. It’s not Empire business. Agreed?”

  Richard had no idea what the young woman knew, but it was obvious she wasn’t going to tell him if he didn’t agree to her terms.

  “Very well, Angela,” Richard said. “I give you my word of honor as a wizard scout that I won’t relay whatever you tell me to the Empire. Is that good enough?”

  “Fine,” said Angela. “I’ll trust you because Terrie trusts you.”

  Taking a deep breath as if seeking the resolve to tell something important, Angela said, “My clan was ordered to the outer belt by Trecor’s primary computer to locate the source of an anomaly.”

  Terrie must have seen the confusion in Richard’s eyes because he broke in to explain. “The efforts of the Trecorian miners are coordinated through Trecor’s primary computer. The O’Reilly clan are some of the best miners in the Trecorian Planetary Alliance.”

  “We are the best,” said Angela sounding indignant.

  “All right, they’re the best,” said Terrie rolling his eyes. “Anyway, they were ordered to a dense gathering of asteroids located near Trecor’s boundary with the Empire. They call it the outer belt. It’s near planet X3321.”

  “All right,” Richard said. “I understand. Go on Angela.”

  “Well, it was a typical exploration and mining expedition for the first few months,” explained Angela. “Then we found something.”

  Richard waited several seconds for Angela to expound on the subject. When she didn’t, he urged her onward. “Okay. I give up. What’d you find?”

  “We found three… uh… spheres,” Angela said as if seeing the objects in her mind. “I don’t know how else to explain them. They… ah… seemed to hypnotize anyone who looked at them.”

  Alarm bells went off in Richard’s mind. During his freshman year at the Academy, he’d been sent on a mission by ‘the One’ to help the elf, Shandria, retrieve three spheres. They had been guarded by a powerful demon. The elf and he had barely escaped with their lives. Shandria had told him the spheres were parts of a seed. According to the elf, the seed was needed to guard a gate between dimensions. The only other things he remembered about the spheres were that there was one of each primary color, and looking directly at one of the spheres put the viewer in a trance.

  “Uh…, were the spheres about the size of a man’s head?” Richard asked. “And were they red, blue, and yellow?”

  “No,” said Angela.

  Richard felt his muscles relax. He hadn’t realized it, but just the thought his current mission might involve demons had started to stress him out.

  “I mean, the size is right,” said Angela. “But the colors were green, orange, and purple.”

  “What’s wrong, Rick?” said Terrie. “You look like you’ve seen a ghost. Have you seen those spheres before?”

  Richard shook his head no.

  “Oh,” Terrie said. “I just thought–”

  “I saw three spheres of primary colors,” Richard said slowly. “Angela’s spheres are the three secondary colors.”

  Richard noticed Angela and Terrie exchange glances. Angela spoke first.

  “Do you know what they do, Rick?”

  Without hesitating, Richard said, “No. Not really. The primary-colored spheres were very powerful, and they were well guarded. I was told they had something to do with keeping some kind of interdimensional gate closed.”

  For the next fifteen minutes, Richard related his adventure with the elf, Shandria. He wasn’t sure whether his two listeners believed him or not, but all he could do was tell them the truth as he knew it.

  When Richard finished, the three of them sat in silence for several seconds. Terrie’s wizard scout training kicked in, and he recovered first.

  “That’s a lot to take in all at once, Rick,” said Terrie.

  Angela nodded her head in agreement.

  “So…,” Terrie said, “you’ve been going on missions for this ‘the One’ character and doing your wizard scout missions as well. Must suck.”

  “Tell me about it,” Richard said. “But don’t get me started. I only mentioned it because of those spheres.”

  Turning to Angela, Richard said, “Where are the spheres now? Did you guys take them somewhere? Does the duke have them?”

  “Slow down,” said Angela holding up her hands. “The O’Reilly clan is beholden to the duke, but he doesn’t have any say over us. So, no, we didn’t give them to the duke. And no, we didn’t move them. We tried, but they wouldn’t budge. They’re right where we found them.”

  “Oh,” was all Richard could think to say. He didn’t know whether the spheres not being moved was good news or bad news.

  “Uh, do you want to know something strange, Rick?” Angela said leaning close as if not wanting to speak too loud.

  Richard found himself leaning close as well. So did Terrie.

  “I think they’re some kind of teleportation device,” said Angela.

  “Why?” said Terrie.

  “Because I was in the mine with the green sphere when the black ship showed up,” said Angela. “I was wearing special protective goggles while trying to move the sphere. It started glowing bright enough that the light hurt even while wearing my protective gear. Shortly afterward, the communication channel was flooded with reports we were under attack.”

  Richard took a moment to ponder the information. He did his best to merge it with what Shandria had told him. When his brain started hurting from the effort, he gave up.

  The three of them talked for another hour trading information. The highpoints of the information was that the miners hadn’t told the Trecor government about the spheres. They’d only told them they’d found an anomaly. Also, as far as Angela knew, the spheres were still on the asteroid. And finally, Richard learned Angela thought the black ship and its crew had sensed the spheres were being tampered with and had come to protect them.

  When it became obvious to Richard he could discover no additional information, he excused himself by feigning a need to return to the barracks. Terrie let him drive the hover-cycle back. Richard thought the gesture was brave on the part of his ex-TAC officer. Although, Richard was better at driving a hover-cycle than he was at piloting a Leviathan cat, that wasn’t saying much. However, Richard did manage to land in front of the barracks without any major mishaps.

  As Terrie was settling himself back in the pilot’s seat in preparation for leaving, Richa
rd remembered the original reason why he’d wanted to see his old TAC officer.

  “Before you go, Terrie, I’d like to ask you a question.”

  “Shoot,” said Terrrie.

  “I noticed a significant number of Trecorians are connected to Power reserves,” Richard said. “Some of them were using it the other night to play some game called bingo.”

  “Bongo,” Terrie said grinning at Richard. “You’d better learn to say it right. It’s the main pastime of Trecorians. Some of the more diehard fans can get downright sensitive on the subject.”

  “Okay,” Richard said, “bongo. The players were using telekinesis to move the ball around. It seemed kind of a waste of time to use Power for a game. Don’t they use their Power for military applications? It seems like a waste of potential.”

  Terrie shook his finger at Richard. “And that’s why it was a mistake graduating you cadets early from the Academy. You missed out on some of the more advanced-concept classes reserved for senior-year students.”

  “We didn’t have much choice in the matter,” Richard said defensively. “The Crosioians destroyed the Academy if you remember.”

  “I do,” said Terrie. “Still, you missed out on a lot of the information you’re going to need in the years ahead.”

  “For instance?” Richard said trying to prod his ex-TAC officer for information.

  “Well for one thing, why most Trecorians aren’t trained in their use of Power other than the little telekinesis they use for bongo.”

  Richard hated it when people refused to just come right out with the information he needed. His battle computer said he was too impatient. Richard thought other people were just too patient for their own good.

  “Okay, Terrie,” Richard said trying his best to keep his impatience out of his voice. “Why aren’t they trained?”

  “Because except for a few rare instances, it takes a diviner to unlock a person’s Power,” said Terrie.

  “No one helped me,” Richard responded.

  “What can I say?” Terrie replied. “You’re one of the exceptions. Besides, you’re a diviner.”

  “Okay,” Richard said conceding his ex-TAC officer’s point, “then why doesn’t the Trecorian diviners train your soldiers?”