by Reiter
“It was not a request!” Quordion hissed. “Now give the order!”
“Quordion, release that man!” Thandace cried. “You’re hurting him!”
“Actually I’m slowly killing him,” Quordion replied, closing his eyes. Fields of shadow also formed around Olreye, who had just eased up out of his chair, Mel, who dropped his blaster, and Obanyo, who had thought it best for him not to move at all. “Sorry, I am slowly killing them! Give the order while you still c–” Quordion’s head snapped forward before he collapsed to the floor unconscious. Satithe removed the stealth field from around Roc who looked down on the Baron as he rubbed his fist.
“Looks like Princess read that one right,” Roc muttered as he slowly turned to face Thandace. The sister of the Baron looked on the massive form hunching to fit in the compartment and she held up her hands in surrender.
“I am sure you pulled your punch,” she shared.
“How would you know?” Roc inquired.
“He dropped straight down. Your blow… was one of technique.”
“Our First Mate can be a very demanding instructor,” Roc said, walking over to examine the Team Lead who was slowly getting up. “Are you able?”
“Thanks to you, yeah,” Siekor said, opening a channel. “Boss, where am I supposed to deliver these replacement parts?”
“The order form said something about the East Loading Dock,” Llaz replied.
“Roger that, we’ll try there.” Siekor looked at Mel who made eye contact with the Team Lead and signaled his ability to continue. “Let’s slap a collar on the Baron,” Siekor ordered.
“Please, Mr. Siekor,” Thandace begged. “I will contain my brother.”
“Forgive me if I find that hard to believe, given the past few minutes,” Siekor retorted.
“You have my word. It is his pride, good–”
“His pride?!” Siekor shouted. “Soon as we get where we’re going, I’m tempted to show your brother what he can do with his pride. We’ve got people back at your estate, risking their lives playing out a game of Three Card Monty! Running around like amateurs with professional soldiers trying to tag them. Just to keep up the façade that Field Marshal’s people have their target in their sights!
“We can’t get word into the Captain, and our Satithe is telling us they can’t get word out!” Siekor continued. “Our scans won’t even reach the Pearl Barony at the moment, and our attempts to reach the Governor at Black Gate aren’t even being forwarded to message storage! This is a hit, lady! One of the ugliest anyone on this shuttle has seen. So your Baron can suck on his pride for all I care.
“Yo, Sonar!” Siekor called out.
“Yes sir!”
“The Baron’s sister’s got first line on our most appreciative guest. If he so much as lifts an eyebrow to start slinging shadows, you shoot to cripple. Am I understood?!”
“Clean and green here, sir!”
“Thom, how’s it going up there?”
“Stealth Field is still functional,” Thomasine reported, “but whatever stunt he was pulling back there didn’t do us any good. I’ve got three apertures opening in our immediate sector and Scan-Bots are coming through them as we speak. We’ve got the reserves to increase the power to the field, but the emitters on the Lander don’t have the capacitors like the ones on the Xara-Mansura. They’re going to start heating up!”
“Go for best possible speed and when scan waves turn in our direction, cut the engines and we’ll have to drift to the rendezvous point,” Siekor ordered. He then turned to Obanyo who was already getting up from his chair.
“I’ll see what I can do about the capacitors,” the young Tech spoke softly as he moved quickly.
“Let me know as soon as you know, Scamps!” Siekor ordered. Watching his Tech move away, the Team Lead looked at Jovasor, looking for his preliminary report. “How is the Baron, Doc?”
“Roc’s teacher will be very proud,” Jovasor stated. “The blow triggered some backlash, but nothing too harmful since it ushered him almost immediately into unconsciousness.”
“Close enough,” Siekor huffed, starting for the door to the cockpit. “Pride!”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
Hanging on to the roll-bar with all of his strength, Llaz smiled as his brace-com channel disconnected. “Siekor’s clear!” he yelled, looking back to see that they were still being chased by a number of very agitated mercenaries. “How’s that road looking, Southpaw?!”
“Like maybe I spoke too soon when I said I could handle a ground car,” Bruveia muttered.
“Come again?!”
“This thing was built to look good, not haul ass!” she shouted.
“Then keep it pretty!” Projectiles scored the rear of the vehicle and Llaz quickly sought cover inside the rear of the ground transport. “Dammit! That was exactly the opposite of what I asked you to do!”
“Can’t be helped. They brought their own rides and they’re equipped for this sort of thing.”
“Distance!”
“Three kilometers from the estate,” Bruveia reported. “Twenty-eight to the city!”
“I guess it was a real rookie move taking this van,” Llaz mentioned as he drew his blasters.
“Gee, Boss, ya think?!” Cilrus barked.
“You sound kind of mad over there, CeCe.”
“If he isn’t, I sure as hell am, you idiot!” the man who had been disguised as the Baron Orgen spoke up. A gun barrel was placed against his forehead and the man gasped, looking at Hennix who had an evil squint to his eyes.
“Sorry, partner,” he said calmly. “But to you he’s Boss and only Boss. Let those lips fly free one more time!”
“CeCe, pop the back doors!” Llaz commanded. “Right Spike, I could use an anchor!”
The young man yelled as he tucked his head and rolled in a somersault, stopping as his legs fell over the end of the van. Hennix grunted, lunging to take hold of the back of Llaz’s belt. The Second Mate screamed as he fired his pistols; his first shot striking the faceplate of the lead chase vehicle. It swerved off road and started to spin out of control.
“Yeah!” Cilrus yelled, leaning out of the rear driver-side door and firing his energy rifle that sounded more like a deck gun. He hit the road in front of a vehicle, but the debris and dirt was enough for the pilot to lose sight of the road and run off the side. Two of the other three spun to a stop while the third slid into a ditch.
“Damn fine shooting, Boss,” Hennix grunted as he pulled in his commanding officer.
“Had plenty of help,” Llaz smiled, holstering his weapons. “Keep it screaming, Southpaw!”
“Roger that,” Bruveia said, checking the road and her mirrors. “Looks like we’re getting a couple of seconds.”
“Personnel check,” Llaz ordered. One by one each member of his team called out their status. Only Hennix had been hit, but the armour had held up well and his skin was only just beginning to bruise. Llaz checked his brace-com and smiled. “Good, people. Southpaw, do me a favor and take the next turn off this road. Should be to your port side.”
“Are you smoking exhaust?!” Bruveia yelled.
“You have your orders, Southpaw,” Hennix shouted. “You heard the man!” The woman gave no more of an argument that could be heard, but muttered as she saw the road Llaz had mentioned. The road she was on turned to the right and she shook her head because the requested path was not even paved. She turned left and winced as projectile and laser fire erupted from the road behind them.
“Yeah, smelled that one coming,” Llaz whispered with only the woman who had been disguised as Thandace hearing him. The van received five hits, but nothing that kept the vehicle from continuing down the dirt road. The woman gazed up at the young man in wonder but opted not to say anything. “At the next intersection you need to keep straight. Take the very next starboard turn.”
“You got it, Boss,” Bruveia replied as she breathed deeply through her open mouth. Hennix smiled at the Second Mate and shook
his head.
“Hovercraft,” Cilrus reported. “I see three so far, and they are walking us in like nobody’s business!”
“Wouldn’t be a proper chase without hovercraft, big guy,” Llaz grinned, lifting his brace-com. “Oh, Satithe darling, are we ready?”
“Verification code from Princess has been received,” Satithe reported. “We are definitely ready!”
“Llaz turned and smiled over at Hennix. “When you know you’ve got professionals coming for your ass, you don’t up the armour, you up the surveillance. No one coming after the Baron is coming in light, which means equipment.” Llaz depressed a button on his brace-com. Two explosions could be seen and heard as they lit up the night sky. “And not every damsel in distress is a damsel in distress.”
“Damn, did I miss a Princess show?” Cilrus asked.
“Girl fight between Murder and Mayhem,” Llaz advised. “Princess set the charges.”
“I’m not seeing the third craft,” Bruveia reported. “The blast might have gotten him too.”
“Sure was big enough,” Hennix commented. “Not that I’m complaining. We should be clear all the way to the hangar.”
“Oh yeah,” Llaz agreed. “That’s where the real fun is waiting for us!”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
“What do I do?!” Jocasta had cried, pulling on a dead stick. Her fighter had been struck and the cockpit had turned dark as she was beginning her descent into the atmosphere.
“What seems to be the problem?” Scimitar had asked, sounding as if his concentration were elsewhere.
“Are you fucking kidding me?!” she had snapped. “Everything’s dead and we’re two minutes out from entry burn! I’ve got a dead stick!”
“That would fall in line with everything being dead,” Scimitar had commented, still in a very calm voice. “Now is not the time to be redundant.”
“Scimitar!” she had screamed.
Pyoo! How many times had she heard that sound? There were times Jocasta had thought the man slept with that garrote, for surely he was a master of its application. She had even witnessed one occasion where Scimitar had engaged three people simultaneously. He snapped the neck of one with a flying leg scissor while swinging his garrote and strangling the other two. Now that fatal length of cable was around her neck.
“You panic, you die!” he had whispered, catching her left hand and pulling it away from the cable. He had position, leverage, and a massive upper body strength advantage. It had quickly dawned on Jocasta that if he had wanted her dead, she would be dead already. No, the only thing killing her was her. Her neck was tight, but he had not cut off her airway. The spectre of the garrote’s presence was what drove her fear. That, and the awaiting fiery kiss of a planet’s atmosphere. But there was time… time and opportunity… and she had slowly lowered her hand to the armrest.
“You can’t very well expect the ship to pull up if the pilot can’t!” Scimitar had said. “Do you hear me, Kendra? The ship can’t pull up if you don’t! Can you… hear me?!”
“I hear you!” Jocasta yelled as her eyes popped open. Her limbs felt heavy, like they were weighed down, if not restrained. Jocasta’s head rolled back and forth as Daedalus continued its descent from the heavens. Sparks flew from the left-rear side of her helmet and she removed the device, finding a piece of shrapnel wedge into the protective gear.
“Nut-crunchers used a fragmentation bomb!” Jocasta thought, tossing the helmet over her shoulder. It rattled around the rear seat before there was no sound of it at all. “And either that thing strapped itself in or there’s a hole in my boy!”
“JoJo!” Satithe exclaimed. “I tried to stop them… I tried to warn you but–”
“Yeah, I get it. It was a Star-Wing who set me up,” Jocasta said as she took hold of another dead stick. “Does anyone know why I’m still alive?”
“That would be my fault, Mistress,” Tuitonn whispered.
“T-Ball! What did you do?!”
“Didn’t have time… shields,” he muttered. “Thought it more like you survive… if I absorb blast… funnel energy in cane. Something Z teach recently.”
“You sound like how I feel, baby,” Jocasta observed. “What’s wrong?”
“First time out of class trying,” he shared. “Z right… it much different in field. Could not get all. You still hit… with some shockwave and two fragments. Other one stopped… coat.”
“You saved my ass, T. Momma owes you big time. You take a breather, get yourself together, and leave the rest to me.” Jocasta checked systems, but there were no lights working on her console. Daedalus had no main power. After checking the emergency re-boot switch, Jocasta released the stick, placing her hands on the console.
“A body is a body,” she thought, extending her thoughts into Daedalus. “My boy just needs a jump charge.” Jocasta closed her eyes and remembered the sensation in the power room where she trained with Xoron. Only this time, the power was coming from her. “Come on, big boy. Talk… to… Momma!” Her body shuddered as the console sparked to life. Jocasta took hold of her stick and hit the switches to trigger her after-burners. The main engine of Daedalus roared to life, and Jocasta howled as she pulled her fighter up out of its dive.
“Captain!” Satithe exclaimed. “I don’t know what you did, but secondary systems are online and functional. Well done!”
“Thanks Sati. Say, can you set up a ThoughtWill scrambler field?”
“Yes I can.”
“Good. Stand by on that field,” she said, calling up the data on the self-repair capability of her fighter. She could hear the hole getting smaller, eventually getting sealed but her energy and material stores had been lowered dramatically. She estimated she would have around thirty-seven percent remaining after primary hull repairs were complete.
“Bastards also know how to plant a bomb,” Jocasta thought.
“Okay, give me that field.” As Satithe initiated the requested field, Jocasta scanned for any flyers in her vicinity. “Wow, not one but two. And they aren’t even bothering to hide themselves! Hello Shuriken and Vivaldi. Idiots! Then again, I’m supposed to be dead… so, there’s that.” Opening the throttle, Jocasta set Daedalus on a collision course. “Let’s see if those two like how I see things!”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
The rod touched the sounding plate, giving off the tell-tale spark of light along with the cracking boom that echoed throughout the chamber. The members of the council were already seated and either present in the hall or relayed to their places by way of telnet transmission. The master of ceremonies for the event was Representative Sangron Zelvak of the Garnet Barony. He took his time approaching the podium, his brown eyes made a discrete yet slightly desperate search for one person who had not yet arrived. But the man knew he could not delay too much. His Baron was in attendance, and he could feel the man’s eyes on his spine. He took a sip of sweet wine and cleared his throat.
“Ladies and Lords, Baronesses and Barons, esteemed colleagues and guests, could you please come to order?” Clearing his throat again, Sangron took hold of the edge of the podium and decided to speak freely instead of reading the given statement. “Good evening. While we are not at our full attendance, it has been counted that we have an administrative minimum and can proceed. Let the record show that the Barons for the Pearl, Onyx, and Emerald Baronies are not present, along with the absence of the Lord Governor Isaiah Gundryss.
“Though the hour is quite late, it has been brought forward to this body here at Black Gate, that a crime has been perpetrated against one of our most beloved citizens, the Field Marshal Uhnveer Plarzo. As a provider of goods and services of vital importance to several of the Prism Baronies, and it should be mentioned that he has done so without bringing conflict between those provinces, Master Plarzo has been awarded citizenship to The Territories, he is a child of the Prism Baronies.
“A crime has been committed against this citizen of the worst nature, and his very life has been threat
ened!” Sangron exclaimed. “The alleged perpetrator of these crimes has taken refuge in yet another fine-standing organization within The Territories, specifically the Pearl Barony, and even more specifically, Sky Stone Academy, the home of the Star-Wing Corps.” Sangron swept back his dark brown locks, allowing for a dramatic pause and murmurs were indeed rising both within the chamber and over the various feeds. Sangron looked back at his assistant who touched the rod to the plate to bring the meeting to order once again.
“Personal property has been stolen, and threats have been made on this man’s very life! And that is the reason why the emergency caucus has been convened. We must take action, my sisters and brothers, and we must do so swiftly in the name of justice!”
“Point of procedure, fellow representative,” Jeena Quazrell called out as she stood up from her chair.
“The Speaker recognizes the representative of Azuria, Madame Jeena Quazrell.”
“Might we know the name of the accused before we start a discussion on actions to be taken?” she asked, looking around the chamber. She too was looking for someone but was hoping, given what she had been told before these proceedings, that Isaiah Gundryss would not show. “Even if this person is not a citizen of The Territories, are we not getting a little ahead of ourselves? We have established the victim, we need to know the identity of culprit and have the charges stated for the record.”
“The comments of my sister colleague hold merit and therefore, unless there are any objections, we will now identify the alleged perpetrator.” Sangron looked around the room and spoke again. “Hearing none, let us have the first image, please.” A three-dimensional bust picture of Jocasta appeared in front of them. “Esteemed colleagues, I give you JoJo Starblazer!”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
