Starship Magic 4: Extraction

by Mark Brandon Powell

  Tia says, “I see you still talk too much.”

  “Yes sister, I do. I also see you still don’t care much about the wee ones and revel in their ignorance.”

  “No. Just hers.”

  Kat didn’t like the sound of that one bit. But, this isn’t the time to get into anything else. They have a meeting with Gen to get on with. If they ever find her.

  “Sister, what are you going to say to Gen when we find her?”

  Tia's head tilts to the side and as she looks at Graven from the corner of her eyes. Her eyes roll as she turns away. “What I always say to lost children I’ve found again.” She takes lead and walks deeper into the ship.

  Kat and Graven share a quick glance at each other with her still in his arms. All Kat wants to do at this very moment is just close her eyes and lay her head on his shoulder. Forget everything they are about to do and just be here in this moment with him. She can’t remember the last time they just had a moment.

  Graven places his hand on the side of her face and pulls her into his chest for just a second, squeezing tight, then lets go and picks up the chest following behind Tia. Not sure if it’s because of his sister or they are on the job but Kat feels she just got brushed off. Shaking it off she gets they are working right now and does need to focus.

  When she was looking at the ship before they docked, it looked about twice the size of the Felicity. Now that she is inside it feels more than that. It could be the singular long hallway they still haven’t reached the other side of yet. She also hadn’t really seen any other room besides the windowed walls that have spanned the whole ship.

  Relief passes over her as a wall comes into view, blocking the way with a regular sized door. Which she hopes means the bridge is behind it. A small red button is next to the door with a sign right above it. It says, for questions press the red button, for payment press the green button, for drop-offs press the yellow button. Kat didn’t see any other button or even a place for another button to go, just the red one.

  Tia hits the button. Kat is in the middle of holding her hand up to say ‘we need to think this over’ but doesn’t get a chance to say it. Now she just hopes it doesn’t do something like release the invisa-bear or maybe just IB.

  A voice comes from the other side of the door, “Go away.”

  Graven holds up the chest. “We have cores you can look through. I’m guessing you’re looking for your mate?”

  “What do you know?”

  Tia pushes Graven aside, “It is I your queen. I still see you care for the outcast animals like I asked you too Genbu.”

  “Queen Tia, I… Just a moment.”

  The door opens revealing a short woman who looks to be in her 40’s. Soft features, short blueish hair, violet eyes and a glowing smile.

  She tilts her head slight toward Tia. “My Queen, it has been some time. Last we spoke you told me to take the animals off world as fast as I could. It’s been almost two hundred years.”

  “It has been one hundred and ninety eight years two months and five days by the human calendar.”

  “Yes my Queen. How sloppy of me for forget.”

  “That is fine. The harvest was hard on us all.”

  “I have been caring for the creatures of Etchten since then but I have lost a few. Bandits, solar storms, astroid showers. It wasn’t until I was able to get this ship have things evened out and that was a hundred years ago.”

  “I have not come here for the animals but I do thank you for caring for the ones you could save. I am here for our brethren. The ones you seem to be selling to those who started the harvest.”

  “Never my Queen, most of them are worthless bobbles. Not real cores.”

  “But you have given them over.”

  “To the Conglomerate yes, but never the Guild.”

  “They are working together right now, it seems on those cores you’ve been providing them.”

  “Then there is no helping them now.”

  Kat asks, “Why is that?”

  Gen breaks her locked gaze from Tia and glance at Kat briefly. “Who is this my Queen?”

  “She is a halfling, the other is my sister Jinx turned brother Graven.”

  “Brother? Halfling? How is that even possible?”

  “Humans. They might be the Creators favorite but they are the cause of so many of my headaches.”

  “Who’s is she?”

  “Jasper.”

  “Jasper the Angel. And her magic?”

  “She told me it comes from King.”

  Gen’s face droops and focuses on Kat. “Where is she?”

  Kat looks away, “King’s core was cracked but she was able to transfer her knowledge over to me. Then her core absorbed into my hands.” Graven and Tia look at each other but Kat ignores the two and continues, “Was King your mate?”

  “What was the shape in the core?”

  “A snow flake.”

  Tears stream down Gen’s face as she shakes her head back and forth. “She told me she was going to be right behind me. She told me.”

  Tia says, “It was her duty to protect as many as she could.”

  “Was it her duty to get her core cracked. Was it her duty to push her physical body beyond its limits just to keep a few eydulans out of the hands of those humans you let into our lives.”

  Tia lowers her head, “I did the best–”

  “Your best wasn’t good enough. Two hundred years I’ve been looking for her and where was she?”

  Kat says, “Back on Etchten, at the resurrection site near the entrance.”

  “She never got off planet.”

  “I put her there with Lumiere and Chandra. I was the last to leave the planet. He stole the key and I had to stay as long as he was there. When he left I gathered those three because they were the only ones left. I hoped that if I could get the key back I could heal them. I never meant for any of this,” Tia gestures with her hands at everything surrounding her, “To happen. Every Eydulan is like my own daughter.”

  Gen turns around and walks away from the group. Kat notices for the first time that the room they walked up to is not only the bridge but also her bedroom. There is a mattress on the ground off to the right with sheets barely on it with a pile of clothes at the end of it. It’s a mystery if they are the clean pile or dirty pile because Kat starts to notice more than one pile of clothes.

  In the center of the room is a console and captain chair, both littered with food and trash. Then off to the left is a door leading to a small room Kat hopes is the bathroom. Otherwise it might be one of the piles. Upon Gen’s return she has something in her hand. It looks like a metal chain.

  She sticks her arm out and opens her palm to Kat. “Please take this.”

  In her hand is a piece of purple marble. Kat’s eyes are drawn to it and she can almost see something inside of it. Like a star from a far off galaxy.

  Gen continues, “It was given to Snow and she told me to protect it till she got back. Snow is King’s first name. If you really have Snow’s core, then she would want to have this. She always said it gave her protection. She should have never given it to me that day.”

  Gen grabs Kat’s hand and places the marble piece in it and closes Kat’s fingers. Kat looks at it again and feels a pull coming from it as if she doesn’t want to look away. It is set in what looks like gold with a golden chain that is just a little longer than what she would ever consider wearing.

  Kat says, “I can’t.”

  “It is already done.”

  Graven says, “We need to find out about the ship you are going to be sending your next shipment too.”

  Gen shakes her head still wiping away tears. “I told you it’s impossible.”

  Tia asks, “We need the information–”

  “I don’t care anymore what you need my Queen. The only thing in this existence that has meant anything to me is now gone, with you to thank.”

  Kat says, “I don’t like her either.”

  Gen locks eyes w
ith Kat, “Then why are you here?”

  “I’m here to learn about my other half. I only just found out that I am half eydulan. I want to help others of my kind after hearing about all the horrible things that have happened to them. She thinks I’m just a liability because she doesn’t know what I am capable of being a halfling.”

  Tia huffs, “You are too danger–”

  “I am not dangerous Tia. I was born just not in a way you think is right.”

  “Of course it isn’t right. The Creator never meant for it to be this way.”

  “And where is this creator now. If you had such a close connection why did the harvest happen in the first place?”

  Tia hangs her head, “I let the humans in. I believed that the Creator lead them to us. How else would they have been able to find Etchten.”

  Everyone is silent for a moment before Gen starts to laugh hysterically. Kat stays still along with Tia and Graven. It takes a full minute before Gen can talk, while still laughing.

  “Fine. Daughter of Jasper, I will show you why I say it’s impossible.”

  19

  The walk back to the ship was quiet. Even when the IB slammed its paw against the window no one said anything and just kept moving. Kat, Tia, and Graven all sit down at the common room table. Hanna and Terra are still standing in the hallway but haven’t said anything since their ‘hey how’d it go’ got no response. A few minutes later everyone is in the common area.

  Kat breaks her focus away from her thoughts about what Gen told them. It is about time she showed everyone else. She slides a hologram viewer into the center of the table and turns it on. The image towers above the table filling up more space than there is room. After adjusting the image she settles for just spanning the whole table.

  Kat explains the hologram, “This is the Conglomerate’s newest battle station Aphexion. If you’re wondering if the image is just really close up, it is not. This thing is the size of a small planet or large moon. Gen didn’t have a lot of information about the inner workings but does know the procedure on how to dock without getting shot down.”

  Mark asks, “How sure are you about the weapon capabilities?”

  “Pretty sure.” Kat flips to the next image which shows off a closer view of the outside which is littered with turrets of all shapes and sizes. “Gen assured me it looks like this all over the ship.”

  Whisper adds, “From what I heard there is also only a one way communications channel. So even with all my amazingness I can’t hack into it unless I’m inside.”

  Knox asks, “I thought Gen was going to make a delivery? Wouldn’t that get us inside?”

  Kat says, “Yes it would. The only problem with that is the guards have never let anyone onto the ship. Gen has been asked if there was anything special to report and she has always said no. She thinks they might be looking for a special core. It could be because they know about the Eydulan’s now or figured out the power they can provide. So without knowing what they think is ’special’ I think its a lost cause.”

  Fury says, “I tend to agree. The firepower I see near the dock would rip through our shields in seconds.”

  Gale says, “There is always a way dear.”

  Kat shakes her head, “I don’t think so this time. We would need supplies, a good story, someway past the first set of guards to get some time with a terminal so Whisper can hopefully do her thing. If anything goes sideways we can’t just run because we get shot.”

  Jeeves says, “I could always use my powers.”

  “It took you eighteen hours to recharge and the ship couldn’t move. Probably not a good idea.”

  “For long jumps yes. For short ones no. I can do those all day long every day.”

  Tia slams her hands on the table. “No. You cannot use them. It attracts ‘their’ attention.”

  “But if the Foremid are here they have to be taken care of.”

  “No. ‘They’ are still most definitely out there. This is just the Foremid doing what they do best.”

  Mark asks, “Are you two talking about—“

  Tia breaks in, “Yes and don’t say their name.”

  “They can’t hear their names being called from out here. We discuss them all the time back on the home world.”

  Tia gives Mark a death stare, “Do not speak their name in my presence.”

  Jack says, “Ok. Like that wasn’t cryptic enough, back to the main topic. How are we going to get in and not get blasted?”

  Kat lets out a breath, “I don’t think we can.”

  Everyone turns to look at her. Kat doesn’t normally say no, to anything. This just feels to dangerous her. The Conglomerate is up to something and with the way she separated from them and killed Ryker, she doesn’t think it’s the best idea to get mixed into anything like this.

  Tia says, “I agree with her.”

  Kat thinks, of course she does. Asking, “Why's that?”

  “I don’t think you can lead us in and out of this monster of a space ship.”

  Graven asks, “Tia come on. Why are you treating her like this?”

  Kat says, “No Graven, I think she’s right. I don’t trust that my leadership skills would get all of us in and out. It's too risky. I mean look at this thing. It’s a damn planet. A man-fucking-made planet. We don’t have schematics or know the soldier count or even who’s in charge in there. That’s if we get inside and they don’t blast us into space dust on approach. Something like this would take months to properly configure a plan for. Not the days we have.”

  Tia says, “I agree with her. On all of her points.”

  Graven gives another look at Tia who just shrugs.

  Kat can see a couple of people about to speak and adds, “I know we could try, I know you all would try even with the danger. I’m saying we shouldn’t. We’re going to head back to Illusion and drop Tia off there. We’ve done everything we can for her. If she still wants to go after this thing, gets the info, and wants to hire us again then sure maybe later but not now.”

  As Kat stands and grabs the hologram emitter off the table Knox and Jack throw a couple of objections her way, which she waves off. Kat knows she’s right. This is a suicide mission for Eydulan cores. When it was for Terra a year ago, that was for a human girl who risked her own neck for Kat and is Hanna’s blood. This is for some cores of fallen Eydulans that she doesn’t know and probably never will. Just because she’s a half blooded doesn’t obligate her rescuing them.

  20

  It’s a three day trip back to Illusion and Kat plans to hide herself in her room after the conversation with the crew. Graven tries to convince her otherwise but doesn’t get through to her. This might be where she loses him. She can’t risk everyone’s life for this and shouldn’t ask them to. If she asks, they will all say yes. She knows that. Which is why she needs to be extra careful with requests or missions that are life threatening. She doesn’t want any more deaths on her conscience then necessary.

  After the long talk with Graven she needed some downtime and loaded up her game. Evelyn’s heart is still in her hand when she loads the game and takes it inside of the barn. It is nighttime and the stars are out with the chirping of the bugs and sounds of the bubbling brook nearby made everything very peaceful. Placing her heart into an empty stall brings up menus on what to do with it. Kat reluctantly chooses new dragon and designs Evelynn, with two n’s, to look as identically to her first iteration. She hopes she doesn’t have to do this again because Evelyn with three n’s might seem a little ridiculous.

  Their first day of travel back to Illusion, Kat didn’t do any of her duties or leave her room. She stayed in her game and took care of Evelynn. Only coming out of them game for a moment to drink a stashed soylent drink out of her room for nourishment while she was using the bathroom. Graven jumped in a couple of times that day asking her to come out. She just refused. She didn’t want to see anyone.

  The next two days were just like the first. Skipping out on her duties and drinking her meal r
eplacing soylent drink. Evelynn had grown to full size and was back to where Evelyn with one n was. Thirty-six hours of gaming straight will do that. Kat just wants to stay there until Tia is off the ship. She doesn’t want to see if Graven is going to go with Tia or not. If he’s there when she leaves, awesome, their relationship is stronger than what she thought. If he isn’t… She just skips over that for now and will deal with it if it comes.

  Whisper interrupts her in the middle of a fight to tell her they are three hours out from Illusion. Kat just gives a backhanded thanks and keeps on grinding. The enemies in the game she was killing can drop a rare element she needs for a new harness and didn't want to be disturbed.

  Kat finishes killing another fire metal troll when Hanna appears close to her in the game. She could already tell this is going to be a talk she doesn’t want to be a part of just from the look in Hanna’s eyes. Kat sends Evelynn off to the next troll and Kat walks over to Hanna.

  “What is it Hanna?”

  “What do you mean, what is it? What the hell is up with you?”

  “I uhh… well, I just want to be here right now.”

  “Are you trying to worry us to death because of you are then you are doing a damn good job. If you aren’t I need you to get off your high horse or dragon or whatever you’re riding at the moment and come back to reality.”

  Kat rolls her eyes, “Yea right. Like you guys needed me for the trip back to Illusion.”

  “It isn’t that. We need our captain and our friend. We need you back, the you that stormed into an invisible alien world to rescue a little girl.”

  “Oh I’m still right here. Not sure if you remember or not but I kind of died. Then I was revived by Mark with a shiny new cybernetic heart. So yeah, I am peachy and would love to put the people I love into another situation like that.”

  “You’re just full of it aren’t you. You think you’re trying to protect us and that if you say we should go that we are just going to blindly follow you into danger we might not otherwise be headed into.”