Starship Magic 4: Extraction

by Mark Brandon Powell

  Wrath says, “New magi-tech shell confirmed. Designation freeze ray, shell number five, reconstruction strength sixty percent.”

  Tia reaches out her hand, “That was really quite impressive. I didn’t know that King was able to show you that much. Normally the training is more for control. Magic for new users can be a bit much to handle. She must have really trusted you.”

  “Thanks.” Kat says but doesn’t want to give away that she just went against everything King had told her to do. Which she guesses at some point she was supposed to.

  “What is your plan now?”

  A rotating red light pops out of the ceiling along with an alarm. Kat doesn’t think that is for anything that happened in the room. Mark and Terra might have gotten caught or Hanna and the others. She didn’t have time to worry about them and she didn’t need to with Graven on his way.

  “Sorry Tia, we didn’t really have a plan for this. Lets take Gwen’s keycard and get to the bridge. Get control of the ship and cause an engine meltdown. That should cause everyone to evacuate. Then we get Mark or Graven to take the cores from the lab, then shut it off and get the hell out of here.”

  Wrath says, “Keycard is non-exsitant, biometric entry is required.”

  Kat asks, “What biometrics?”

  “Your meat must need time to thaw. Biometric scanners are in place to open all restricted doors. Hand, eye, and body.”

  Tia says, “So no easy access today.”

  Kat sighs, “I couldn’t have put it better myself.”

  The two share a smile and Kat takes Tia's hand to get off the ground. If they weren’t going to be able to use Gwen to get into the bridge, hacking the door or breaking it down are going to be the only ways in. Wrath would have said they could have opened the door if they could have. Which leaves breaking and entering.

  “Alright Wrath, load up a freeze ray shell.”

  The hallway is eerily empty for having an alarm going off. Which either made Kat happy or suspicious. She isn’t sure which. Taking a left out of the room Kat takes the lead toward the bridge leaving the cores in the inspection room. It could be too dangerous to take the chance of them getting shattered.

  The bridge is farther than Kat expects. It feels like they have been walking for about ten minutes. Without a single door or panel in sight. She starts to wonder if it is even the right direction. Another couple of minutes pass by and they reach a large bulkhead door. Kat points Wrath at the door with a newly created freeze ray shell and pulls the trigger.

  Bluish white light floods into and then out of the barrel. Frost radiates out from the center of the door where the beam is covering the door and everything around it. Kat thinks to herself as long as the door isn’t super-steel the beam should freeze the door and then she can break through it like glass.

  The beam finishes and Kat wonders if it worked. “Here goes.”

  With Wrath still pointed at the door Kat pulls the trigger a few times firing regular ballistic rounds. Each round sinks into the door as Kat’s heart does the same.

  Tia asks, “What just happened Kat?”

  “The door is super-steel. When it gets cold it doesn’t shatter and when it gets hot it doesn’t melt. You have to have an industrial plasma forge to get heat high enough just to make the stuff. I used to have to order things all the time for some of the higher ups in the conglomerate when I worked there.”

  “Do you think the walls are that way too?”

  That was a good question. The walls would more than likely be the same material. Super-steel is expensive and time consuming to make but there is always the chance it isn’t.

  Kat just answers, “Probably.”

  “Lets find out.”

  Tia cracks her neck to one side then the other without using her hands. Her soft skinned face contorts into harsh lines as her eyes turn yellow with black lizard like slits. Opening her mouth shows her teeth have changed into rows of extremely sharp looking fangs. She breaths in as a small vortex forms outside of her mouth. As it vanishes a stream of fire comes out landing on the wall next to the door. The metal turns molten and globs to the ground.

  Kat watches on in disbelief. She had always thought that Tia was some stuffy old Queen as in a ruler who just sits above people ordering them around and never getting down and dirty. After being saved by her and now her melting down the wall she changes her option. Tia's eyes turn green as she blows out cold air, turning the molten steel around the newly made hole safe to pass through.

  Tia's features soften again and she looks back to Kat gesturing for her to enter, “You first.”

  Kat nods and has Wrath at the ready. Stepping over the lip and onto the bridge she gets a look at the room. It’s at least twice the size of the bridge on the Felicity. She thought it would have been bigger. The looks on the faces of the few men and women are complete shock as they raise their hands in the air. While keeping Wrath trained on everyone Tia comes in behind her. Kat watches the faces as they turn from shock to terrified.

  Kat says in a commanding tone, “Anyone who wants to leave and get off this ship, do it now.”

  They all look at each other and back to Kat. She waves Wrath toward the hole and they nearly stumble over themselves getting out. Kat wonders if guards and soldiers will be this easy. Knowing how the Conglomerate are they won't be. Their families will get punished, for their failing to protect company goods. With the last civilian gone Kat walks to the middle console near the captain’s chair.

  There is a port on the side to insert a card and the rest of the console is inactive. Hitting the buttons doesn’t give any reaction.

  “Hey Wrath is there anything you can do?”

  “Affirmative fleshy life form. Take the card I am about to make and insert it into the slot.”

  Whisper’s bracelet stops spinning and a thin card quickly forms. Wrath is using Whisper’s nanites to make the card, which gives them a way to have a link to the battle station.

  Something Kat will have to remember to tell Whisper to do in the future. That would have come in handy about a hundred times. With the card ready she places it into the console’s slot.

  Wrath says, “Accessing. One minute to completion.”

  Kat had never spent much time with Wrath. It is like pieces of Whisper and Fury’s personality are there. A bright white flash draws her attention to a set of a large displays. Like on her ship but only shows inside of the ship. Most of what she can see doesn’t look too important. Water, o2, food, and sewage levels. On her left is a large wall of smaller displays. Constantly shifting to different camera’s around the ship. Three displays at the bottom have a red square around them and one with a yellow square.

  Kat swiped them up to the larger displays. A large fire take up one fourth of the screen around a golden building, the Felicity is in another with Hanna at the end of the cargo bay door with an encircling of guards around her, and her own butt. The yellow one is following Graven who’s just reached the dock.

  30

  Graven Two

  Graven catches a glimpse of the Felicity and it’s surrounded by soldiers. White body armor suits with glowing black joints. He can see yellow lightning near the end of the cargo bay, which could only mean that Hanna is there. Looks like they need to clear things out before he can go look for the others.

  Taking off in a full sprint toward the ship clears most of the distance in a few seconds. A bolt of lightning goes through the group of soldiers and flies right at him. He rolls his body to the right as a stray arc hits him in the chest.

  Flashes of pain and numbness rush across his body. Nothing he hasn’t felt before but always wants to avoid. Craning his head toward where the bolt came from, he sees Hanna holding off the soldiers, alone. Had something happened to Jack. Shaking the pain away he gets up and resumes his charge into the remaining soldiers.

  With the bolt landing on his chest he got a little charge off of it and puts it to good use. Focusing on his right fist he runs Hanna’s magic through his
body up to his fist. Lighting sparks and arcs around his fist and forearm.

  He leans into a punch against an unsuspecting soldier. A conic blast of air and lightning erupt from the impact of his fist and through the soldier hitting every other one on the two sides that Hanna separated with her attack.

  Hanna turns with a monster of a bolt in her hands aiming at him before she recognizes Graven. She smiles, whipping back around to her left as her right arm releases a wave of lightning.

  Hanna jokes, “Kat didn’t insult them that quick did she?”

  Graven laughs, “Nope. Just someone we already killed is still pissed at us.”

  “That was literally in a past life for them. Must be one heck of a grudge. Who was it?”

  “Gwen Stacy.”

  “The Solar Queen? I thought Kat used a gravity shell on her?”

  “One in the same.”

  “Yeah. I would be pretty pissed too. But what do we do now? We didn’t plan for an ex-rival to be running this ship. That would have been like plan Z or something.”

  “More like double A. We need to secure the ship and get her ready to get the hell out of here at a moments notice.”

  “What about Terra and Mark?”

  “I’m going to go get them. Is Jack ok?”

  “I told him I could handle this and if he stepped in I would bolt him myself. He’s helping Knox prepare the engines, but we have company.” Hanna gestures with her head behind Graven.

  A golden suit of armor walks slowly up to the ship past the bodies of the fallen guards. His helmet breaks away revealing his face and there were no doubts that it is the same man that spoke with them earlier.

  “You two are either Guild mages or Eydulan’s. It doesn't matter either way. Face the other direction and interlace you fingers behind your head. Then get on your knees and cross your feet. I will give you ten seconds to start or I’m going to kill both of you.”

  Graven looks back to Hanna and she shrugs. The man starts counting. Graven rolls his head around stretching it and rushes in. He might not have any of the extra buzz of magic he just released from Hanna’s stray bolt but he was still in his yellow form. More than enough to deal with a human in battle armor.

  His fist hits a patch of blue lighting surrounding the man who doesn’t even flinch. His eyes meet Graven’s and they are cold.

  “Ten. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

  The man’s helmet reforms around his face and Graven hears gears whirling up. He tries to pull his fist back but its stuck within the blue lightning. A golden fist wraps around Graven’s pulling him closer. A second fist connects with his face and Graven can feel his bones rattle.

  He falls to his knees and tries to focus his eyes but they won’t listen. Another pull on his right arm is met with another fist in his face. This time his body just collapses.

  A flash of light yellow then blue light then red and blue. His brain is telling him not to get up. The flashes happen faster. Then Jack screams. He wants to get up but can't, there isn’t anything he can do.

  Sure there is.

  Who’s that, he thinks.

  It’s yourself. The part of you that was Jinx and was Graven.

  I don’t understand.

  It’s ok, you don’t have to. Just go violet.

  That will definitely kill me.

  If you don’t that golden armor will definitely kill your friends.

  I don’t even know if that will work.

  Just search our memories. At green and indigo we heal a little bit, enough to get you up and violet will give you a whole new body for two minutes.

  Can I do it.

  No answer.

  More flashes of light and another scream. He couldn’t tell who but he wasn’t going to hear another one of his friends get hurt. The next scream he hears is going to be the man in the golden armor.

  Taking in a deep breath fills his body with pain and spot dance in his vision. He tries again and the pain is worse but he knew it was coming. Forcing magic through his body he can feel his atoms vibrate. His vision clears as a rush of power loosens his green form. The pain from breathing fades meaning his powers were pushing his physical body beyond their natural limit, and healing the damage.

  He sits up and sees Jack and Hanna are both on the ground battered and broken. Hanna’s left leg bone is sticking out of her shin and Jack is missing his right arm. Knox has pulled out the mini-gun and started throwing lead.

  The blue shield is holding steady, catching each bullet. The mini-gun runs out of ammunition and the barrels spin audibly slows to nothing. The shield drops with a curved piece of lead falling to the ground.

  The man says, “I don’t know who you are but I will give you the same chance I gave the others. Submit or perish.”

  A blur of light like a heat wave closes into and attaches something to the butt of the golden armor before moving away. The man looks behind him but it is too late. The explosion rattles the ground followed closely by a shockwave of force.

  Fire and smoke billow out as Graven sees a shimmer of white light just past the center of the explosion. Gale is shielding Hanna and Jack with what looks like a Foremid energy shield. Graven makes a mental note to thank Mark for that later.

  A deep and pissed off voice yells out, “You have made a serious mistake.”

  The smoke and fire get blown away as the golden armor rises up into the air. Two blue lights are at its back and one in his hand. The energy beam lets loose crashing into Gale’s shield.

  The beam stops just as Mark’s shield shatters. Graven can hear and see the beam charging up again for another blast.

  31

  As Kat watches Mark and Terra’s face flash on the screen where the fire is. Mark looks worn out as he is defending himself from something she can’t see on the screen and Terra is conjuring spell after spell.

  Kat realizes it was Mark and Terra that ran into the trouble first. A flash on the screen of where Hanna is draws Kat’s attention. She watches Hanna mow down the guards as a stray bolt hits Graven. He falls to the ground but she doesn’t worry. It was just magic.

  The man in the golden armor walks up to the ship and Graven attacks. Kat is glued to screen as she watches. The man punches Graven repeatedly before he falls to the ground. Hanna is firing off lighting bolts the whole time as each bounce off or absorb into the blue lightning surrounding the golden armor. The man turns toward Hanna just as she releases a blindingly bright flash of lighting.

  Kat watches at the blue lighting opens up slightly in the back leaving an opening. Jack comes flying out covered in fire. Ramming himself into the shield. Jack’s right arm gets ripped off as Kat gasps and her heart races even faster. The man bludgeons Jack in the head with his own arm and then punches him in the stomach. Jack’s fire goes out and the man tosses him over Hanna’s head.

  Hanna turns around and watches Jack fall to the ground. Which gives the man just enough time to stomp on the back of her left leg breaking it.

  Blaster rounds fire out from a point in the ship Kat can’t see and guessing it’s Knox. The only thing running through her head is ‘no no no’. She doesn’t want to be here and watch her family die. Hanna tosses another lightning bolt as she crawls away. The screen flashes and fizzes out.

  All the cameras near the Felicity are now out as she flips through them. Her chest feels tight and has trouble breathing. She takes a moment to close her eyes and calm herself with slow even breaths. If Graven didn’t win there wouldn’t have been anything she could do from there. But she knows he's ok… he has to be. As her heart slows she thinks combat is easy compared to watching from afar. It's near torture.

  Wrath asks, “Is your moment of hyperventilation finished? I completed my task and have had access to the ship for over two whole minutes.”

  “Yes Wrath, I’m finished. I just thought Whisper’s quips were bad, yours are worse.”

  “I would normally take offense to that but you are only a human. I can’t blame you.”

&nb
sp; “And there’s Whisper.”

  The console has all kinds of reports popping up notifications along with security alerts from where Kat and her crew are. She quickly thumbs through the non security reports all of which are coming from someone named Archer.

  One catches her eye listed as power source. Entailing notes of how the Eydulan cores are used for different power supplies depending on the output of the core. Archer makes it very clear that each core is precious and needs to be handled with care as there is a finite number of them.

  This surprises Kat as she had heard differently from Gen. Only hearing the rumors aren’t always right. Archer goes on to say that he is looking for a few specific cores which have special properties like the crucible project and its ability to form tiny, yet controlled, wormholes which close instantly.

  It is a little hard to believe that they knew about Jeeves and what she could do but it is even harder to deny what she has in front of her.

  Kat asks, “Wrath can you copy all of these files?”

  “Affirmative.”

  “Good, we might need them later.”

  Tia asks, “Why are you wasting time with files, we need to find my people's cores?”

  Tia has a good point but Kat always liked having a long game. “I promise Tia that I am not wasting time. You know how important information can be.”

  She folds her arms, “Yes.”

  “Then that is all I am doing. A little insurance once we get off this ship.”

  “If we get off and we still need the cores. Which is the whole reason for coming onto this ship.”

  Wrath says, “Immediate files transferred, accessing stored files.”

  Kat asks, “Can you do that while you’re looking for the cores. Tia is right we need to find them and fast.”

  “Affirmative. Eydulan core location is in the engine room. Engine room is currently off limits and on lockdown.”

  “How can we get in?”

  “Security lockdown has caused all doors and bulkheads to be sealed. Only overridden by manual access or engine failure. Bulkheads leading to escape pods will open. The Engine room has the most escape pods listed.”