Ripping off one of his gloves, Richard opened the chest armor of Jasper’s power-suit. He saw two cauterized holes in the right side of the dwarf’s chest. Placing his hand over the holes, he imagined how the dwarf’s body should be and compared that to how it was now, then drew the difference inside himself. Pain in the right side of his chest drove the air out of his lungs. He bit back a cry of pain. The acquired injury hurt, but he didn’t pass out. Within a dozen heartbeats, most of the pain resided. When his eyes cleared, he felt a pair of hands holding him up. They belonged to Jasper.
“Thanks, wizard scout.”
Richard nodded his head but didn’t reply. The two holes in his lung hadn’t quite closed over yet. He started to place his hand over a hole in Mica’s leg armor.
Mica shook his head. “No. I’ll be fine until we get back to the ship. The phase round went all the way through.”
Richard didn’t argue with the dwarf. Treating wounds as an emp-healer was no great thrill.
A wave of emotion swept over Richard.
“Brother,” said Bright Wing. “I’ve overloaded the destroyer’s energy source. The hyper-drive will self-destruct soon.”
“Nick?” Richard asked.
“The dragon’s correct. I calculate the ship will blow in thirty-two seconds.”
Richard cursed out loud. Things were happening quicker than he’d planned. Pulling off his dimensional pack, he imagined a set of vacuum patches he’d seen Charlie and Daniel use to temporarily patch power-armor. A small amount of Power left his reserve. Opening his pack, Richard pulled out a half-dozen packets filled with a gooey gray liquid. He shoved the packets into Mica’s hands.
“Get these to Felspar,” Richard ordered. “Patch up anyone who’s got a hole in their armor. That includes you. We’re getting out of this place.”
Mica used his good arm to shove himself to a standing position. “Roger that. I’m tired of this place anyway.”
“Twenty-five seconds,” said Nickelo.
Richard quickly pulled off his own pants and shoved them in the opening of his dimensional pack. He closed the pack’s flap again. He imagined an undamaged set of battle suit pants. He didn’t sense any Power leave his reserve, but wasn’t concerned. His battle suit and standard weapons were freebies as far as Power usage was concerned. Lifting the flap, Richard pulled out a set of battle suit pants. They looked like they’d just been taken out of their original shipping box.
“Eighteen seconds,” said Nickelo.
As he shoved his legs into the pants, Richard called for Felspar and the other dwarves to gather around him. Before anyone could respond, a stream of plasma rounds came down the stairway and began bouncing around the engine room. More streams of plasma rounds came down a side hallway as the dwarves dove for cover.
The dwarves returned fire in the form of magic, phase, and plasma energy. Richard saw Jasper aim her M12 at the hallway and loose two balls of magic out of a wooden shaft attached to the bottom of the M12’s barrel. The magical energy flew down the hallway.
Boom! Boom!
“Fireballs,” observed Nickelo.
“Nice weapon,” Richard told his battle computer. “I need to get Sergeant Hendricks to attach one of those magic wands underneath my M12.”
“Good luck with that. The odds ‘the One’ would allow you to use it on missions are low to non-existent.
“Never mind ‘the One,’” Richard said. “I’m more worried about how to get us out of here at the moment. I’m going to gather my remaining Power from my reserve. Help me wrap it around the dwarves. I’m having trouble getting it around Storis and Mica.”
“No can do, Rick.”
Richard pulled his .44 caliber AutoMag out of its holster. He sent two of the heavy rounds at a bat-shaped head peeking around the top of the stairs. One of the brerellium rounds struck the center of the bat’s forehead. She tumbled out of sight.
“What do you mean you can’t? I said help me wrap the dwarves with Power. That’s an order.”
“I mean, I can’t,” said Nickelo. “Neither can you. You’re down to six percent Power. That’s not enough to dimensional shift all the dwarves and yourself. You’re trying to spread your Power too thin. I calculate you’re going to have to leave at least two of them behind.”
“Forget it! I’m a marine. We don’t leave anyone behind.”
“Then you’re all going to die,” replied Nickelo. “And by the way, you’ve got twelve seconds before the hyper-drive blows. I guess I’ll see you on the other side.”
Richard wracked his brain for any ideas but had little hope. He sent out a call to the dolgars. He got no response.
Nick! Connect me to Margery. Now!
A nanosecond later, a consciousness inserted itself into the space Richard shared with his battle computer.
“Rick,” said Margery. “This is dangerous. Nick has set up a communications line from him to Jonathan to me and back to you. It could have unforeseen side effects.”
Richard didn’t care. He’d used a similar setup to communicate with the commandant during the Crosioians’ attack on Velos.
Switching to command voice, Richard said, “Forget side-effects. Situation report.”
A stream of data entered Richard’s shared space. He sensed more than saw what was happening. Sergeant Ron had stopped running. The Defiant was now trading fire with the other destroyer. The little recon ship was firing both its magic and technology-based weapons. Both Matthew’s zipper and Tia’s dragon-fighter were adding their firepower to that of the Defiant.
Another consciousness intruded into Richard’s link with Margery. He recognized the frequency of the other presence. It was his friend Stella’s battle computer, Jonathan.
Richard made a decision and gave his commands. In the space of four heartbeats, he sensed a closed link that was already attached to him reopen. It was the one-way link his friend Stella had attached to him during their Academy days. Power came rushing down the link filling Richard’s reserve.
“Power is now at one hundred percent,” said Nickelo. “Oh, and the hyper-drive will explode in five seconds.”
Wasting no time, Richard wrapped all six dwarves and himself with Power. He caused the Power to shimmer.
“Time to go, Bright Wing,” Richard said as he shifted everyone into the void and levitated them out of the destroyer with his telekinesis. As soon as the entire team was outside the skin of the destroyer, it flew out of sight leaving his group adrift in space. A few seconds later, a bright flash was seen in the distance.
“The destroyer has been disintegrated,” said Nickelo. “Recommend you shift out of the void to conserve Power. Stella and the others are still fighting the Crosioians’ boarding party. I doubt she’ll be able to share Power with you again anytime soon.”
Richard shifted everyone back into the physical dimension. He breathed a sigh of relief when he counted six dwarves plus Bright Wing.
“Well,” said Nickelo, “since none of the dwarves have exploded inside their suits, I calculate they got the holes in their armor patched in time.”
“Can it, Nick. Contact Margery again. Have her send Matt back with the zipper to pick us up.”
“Uh, Margery says they’re a little busy at the moment. We’ll have to wait a few minutes.”
The few minutes turned into thirty before Sergeant Ron was able to send a rescue party for Richard and the others. When rescue finally arrived, it was in the form of the Defiant herself. An orange tractor beam shot out of the recon ship and began pulling Richard and the others into one of the Defiant’s airlocks.
“I’ll see you inside, brother,” said Bright Wing as she blinked out.
Once the airlock sealed and the inner door opened, Richard saw his friends Tam, Telsa, Stella, Trinity, and Jerad on the other side of the doorway. He wasn’t surprised at their appearance since he’d already picked up their frequencies with his passive scan. He unsealed his battle helmet and put it in three-quarters mode and smiled at his friends u
ntil he noticed the face of someone he hadn’t picked up with his passive scan.
Standing off to one side was a short, toad-faced man wearing the black armor of a wizard scout. The man was his brother and ex-TAC officer Gaston Myers.
Chapter 11 – The Children’s Lab
__________________________
When Jeena materialized, she immediately recognized the children’s lab at the Oracle’s.
No, Jeena thought. Not children; at least Dren’s not. Brachia’s still a child, but Dren’s physically a little older than me now.
Although she’d had the book knowledge of aging differences from her years at school, dealing with it in real life was awkward. While Dren and Brachia were humans, Jeena still liked them. Thinking of them growing old in only a few decades was hard to accept. If Dren had been an elf, Jeena was sure they would’ve been very good friends.
Looking down, Jeena noticed they were standing on the strange teleport-platform she’d used before. Its surface looked similar to glass, but the children had called it by a different name; plastic.
“Well, here we are,” said Brachia as he jumped off the platform and ran to one of the many plastic boxes with flashing lights scattered around the room. “I told you it would work.”
Jeena glanced at her staff. A few seconds ago, they’d been in her kitchen cleaning up after a hasty meal. When they’d finished, she touched the runes on her staff in the order the children instructed. The blue gem glowed so bright she’d been forced to close her eyes. A second later, they appeared in the children’s lab.
Since Brachia seemed to be totally engrossed with touching various controls on his computers, Jeena decided to direct some of her many questions to the boy’s sister.
“So, can I use my staff to teleport back to Silverton once my mission is complete?”
“Uh…, no,” said Dren. “Sorry. We had to hard code your staff to the coordinates of this platform. However, you can use it to come here whenever you want.”
Jeena noticed the teenager think for a moment before speaking again.
“Of course, you’d have to walk back to Silverton since the staff only teleports one way. That’s better than walking both ways, isn’t it?”
Nodding her head in agreement, Jeena stepped off the platform. “You’ve got that right.”
After surveying the room for a few seconds, Jeena said, “There’s more of your computer boxes in here than I remember.”
“Oh, yeah,” said Dren. “I had a lot of equipment stockpiled at the Oracle’s before Brachia and I first arrived. A lot of it was in storerooms when you were here the last time. Brachia and I’ve been working on time displacement in an attempt to figure out how we can get back home.”
Jeena nodded her head sympathetically. “I’m guessing since you’re both still here that you haven’t had much luck.”
“No,” admitted Dren. “However, we’ve learned lots of interesting stuff about time travel. It just hasn’t helped us return to our home in the future.”
Placing her right hand on one of the computer boxes, Jeena sensed the flows of energy inside it. All of the Lady’s priests and priestesses were sensitive to flows of Power. Her brother, Ceril, and she were especially adept at manipulating flows of energy.
Reaching out with her mind, Jeena followed the flow of energy moving through the computer. The flow met with other flows outside the plastic box.
“All of the computers in this room are connected,” Jeena said.
Looking a little surprised, Dren said, “Yes. They’re all connected to a subnet of the tele-network. How’d you know?”
Jeena removed her hand from the computer and looked at Dren. “I sensed it. The energy powering your computers reminds me of magic in some ways. Perhaps your technology and our magic are not as different as it first seems.”
Dren nodded. “I think you’re right. The Oracle says magic is just another way to do the same things my people do with technology.”
Jeena decided to try probing the human girl for more information before she met with the Oracle. “You implied you haven’t had any luck building anything to return you to the future. Yet you said our mission will be in the future.”
Pursing her lips, Dren said, “Yes, it does seem contradictory, doesn’t it? The Oracle says not even major demons or similar beings can travel to the future on their own. Someone in the future can bring someone in the past to their time, but no one in the past can go to the future without being brought there.”
Dren shook her head. “Actually, that’s not exactly right. After all, we’re all traveling to the future right now. The only problem is we’re doing it one second at a time.” She smiled. “It’s called aging.”
Jeena smiled back. “So it is. Hopefully, that’s not the way the Oracle is planning on having us travel to the future. I’m not sure how far in the future he needs us to go, but if it’s to your time, I think we’d get a little bored sitting around waiting for the future to get here.”
Dren nodded her head in agreement and smiled back. “Not to mention the fact that Brachia and I would die of old age before we got far enough in the future to get to our time.”
“So how are we going to get there,” Jeena asked trying to be more serious.
Dren gave a knowing smile. “Someone from the future is going to bring us there.”
“Who?” Jeena asked.
Dren winked. “That’s easy; Keka.”
Chapter 12 – Guided Tour
______________________
The confined space of his quarters on the Defiant barely held Richard and his friends. To top it off, the elf, Comstar sat on the room’s top bunk trying to study his spell book. With a look of royal indifference, Comstar interrupted Richard as he began another tirade on why he disliked having ex-TAC Officer Myers onboard.
“Perhaps I should leave,” said Comstar. “After all, I’m not familiar with this Gaston Myers.”
Richard shook his head. “No, please stay. We’ll be leaving soon. You can consider yourself lucky not to have had the pleasure of meeting the man.”
“I think you’ve got Gaston wrong,” said Telsa who was ever the one to look at the best in people. “He was just doing his job at the Academy. If you’d seen him on the Starlight leading the fight against the Crosioian boarding party, I think you’d have a different opinion.”
Richard glanced up at Telsa from where he sat on the bottom bunk next to Jerad and Trinity. Even with Telsa standing and him sitting, the top of her head was barely above his. He suspected his friend was probably the shortest wizard scout in the Empire.
“She is,” chimed in Nickelo privately, “but don’t get her riled. She’s a battle-hardened wizard scout now. The novice cadet you knew at the Academy is long gone.”
Richard didn’t bother disagreeing. He’d read reports on a couple of Telsa’s missions. She could be a wildcat when the need arose.
“Telsa’s right,” said Tam from the room’s only chair next to the desk. “Myers took charge and organized the defense. He saved a lot of lives today.”
“Not you too, Tam,” Richard said suddenly feeling outnumbered. “Myers was a jerk at the Academy. He’ll always be a jerk as far as I’m concerned.”
Jerad rose from where he sat next to Richard, then looked down and added his two credits to the discussion. “Well, jerk or not, Myers is one heck of a fighter. The boarding party had two quads of Crosioian scouts with over a hundred marines. Myers took on four of the scouts all by himself.”
Richard looked at Trinity for support. The dark-haired wizard scout shrugged her shoulders before standing up to join Jerad.
“Sorry, Rick,” said Trinity. “They’re right. I’ve worked with Gaston in the past. He’s a great wizard scout. He’s pulled my solar panel out of a meteor storm more than once.”
Outnumbered as he was, Richard gave up the argument, but he refused to change his mind. Myers had made his life a living hell during his Academy years. Richard doubted he’d ever change his opinio
n of the man.
“Well, we’ll just have to agree to disagree,” Richard replied trying to be tactful. “I’m just thankful you all made it out of the fight alive.” Remembering his manners, Richard looked at Stella. “By the way, I owe you my life, again. If you hadn’t shared your Power with me, my whole team would’ve died.”
Stella’s chest turned a slightly darker gray. She shrugged her shoulders in an effort to make light of Richard’s thanks and made a rasping sound. The translator attached to her belt said, “You friend. You do same for me.”
Richard wasn’t so sure, but he didn’t give voice to his doubts. “Nevertheless, thanks. Now, does anyone want a tour of the ship? She’s small, but she packs quite a punch.”
“So we noticed,” laughed Jerad. “Unfortunately, Trinity and I’ve got things to do, so we’ll have to take a rain check. We’ve got to talk to Sergeant Ron now. Myers has called a meeting in thirty minutes in the galley. We’ll meet you there.”
Richard nodded his head. “Fine. See you then.”
Once the two wizard scouts left, Richard looked at the others. “Any other takers?”
Telsa flashed a cheerful smile. “Sure, I’ll go. The Defiant is one of the worst kept secrets in the galaxy. Any soldier worth a hoot has heard about the little recon ship that can take on a dreadnaught and come out asking for more.”
“We didn’t take on a dreadnaught,” Richard protested. He assumed his friend was referring to the battle they’d had a few months previous. “The dimensional gate closed before the dreadnaught had a chance to get into the fight.”
Tam rose from her chair. Her dark eyes sparkled mischievously. “Don’t try and be modest, buddy. I was able to get the poop straight from my contacts in the mercs. The Defiant took out a destroyer and another recon ship. Not to mention she took on two destroyers today and came out on top.”
“So I take that’s a yes on the tour,” Richard said.
“You bet,” grinned Tam. “Lead the way.”
“Stella?” Richard asked. “Comstar?”
“We go engine room?” asked Stella turning a slightly darker gray for some reason.
Wizard Rebellion (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 5) Page 13
