Wizard Rebellion (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 5)

by Rodney Hartman

  Even at the peak of their strength, Janice knew she and Thomas would’ve been hard-pressed to force entry into the destroyer. While her husband might argue the fact, she knew they were far from their peak strength. She could sense the frailness of her Power reserve. Her passive scan confirmed Thomas wasn’t any better off than she. If either of them put too much of a strain on their reserves, she had no doubt they’d rupture. Their deaths would soon follow.

  Thomas held his bottles of DNA gas out toward her. “Here, take these. I’ll draw their fire. When I do, you sneak onboard and destroy the gem. Once you do, get off pronto. I’ll join you later.”

  Janice bristled at her husband’s words. Typical, she thought. “You can think again,” she said. “Until death do us part, remember? We’re either doing this together, or we’re not doing it at all. Understand?”

  Her husband opened his mouth as if he wanted to argue further, but was stopped short by a loud explosion from their rear. The first blast was followed by several others. Within seconds, multi-colored beams of energy were landing among the Tharg formations guarding the black destroyer. The Thargs immediately began scattering for cover.

  Looking behind her, Janice saw two Empire Leviathan cats and two Long Cats running toward the black destroyer firing every weapon they had. Return fire was slow in coming from the Thargs, but a couple of mages succeeded in combining their Power into a single spell that knocked a leg out from underneath one of the Long Cats. A 200mm phase round from the second Long Cat obliterated the two magic users.

  “Now,” said Thomas. “We’ve got to go now.”

  Janice jumped to her feet and began running toward a set of stairs located at the rear of the destroyer. The stairs were starting to rise, as were several others along the length of the starship.

  “She’s getting ready to take off,” shouted Thomas.

  “I know,” Janice yelled back. She loved her husband, but he was always one to state the obvious.

  A Tharg got in Janice’s way. A dozen rounds from her plasma rifle put him down quick enough. By the time they made it to the back of the destroyer, the stairs were already raised and the door was closing. Wrapping herself with Power, Janice levitated herself up and dived through the opening. The door slammed shut behind her. Her passive scan confirmed that Thomas was right behind her.

  Wasting no time, Janice came out of a roll and jumped to her feet. Thankfully, only four guards were in the entryway. After a few quick swings with her phase rod, all four guards were sprawled out on the floor, bleeding profusely from their heads. None of them had succeeded in sounding the alarm.

  The destroyer shuddered, then suddenly lifted into the air. The angle of its departure left little doubt the starship’s captain was making an emergency takeoff.

  Janice gave her husband a smile.

  He smiled back. “We’ve been in tougher spots.”

  Janice laughed and nodded her head. “Yeah, I know. I just can’t remember when.”

  Thomas laughed as well. Then he turned toward a hallway leading in the general direction of the Mountain’s Heart. “Shall we, my dear?”

  “Why not?” Janice replied as she joined her husband in the hallway.

  A thought came to Janice. One way or another, she knew this was their final mission.

  Chapter 68 – Success and Departure

  ____________________

  Even before the last of the Dragar priests had fallen, Jeena was running toward the tip of the pyramid. The satchel with the fifteen bottles of DNA gas bounced on its shoulder strap. She heard the sound of firing as Stella sent out a line of cover. A lot of the four-armed Thargs were carrying weapons. Some of them began returning fire, but their marksmanship was nowhere near as accurate as that of the wizard scout’s. As a result, Jeena made it to the pyramid’s tip without getting hit.

  Using the information provided by the Oracle, Jeena touched an indentation in the pyramid’s surface, pushing hard with her left hand. A piece of the pyramid moved outward to reveal an opening. Jeena began stuffing bottles of DNA gas down the chute as fast as she could take them out of her bag.

  The effect of the bottles wasn’t what Jeena expected. She’d been told the bottles would destroy the pyramid. Such wasn’t the case. To Jeena, the addition of the DNA gas bottles seemed to be increasing the strength of whatever was inside the pyramid. For a moment, Jeena wondered if she’d been tricked. Then she felt a presence. She’d felt the presence before. It was the green sphere.

  “You’re dead,” Jeena told the green sphere.

  “Not yet,” said the sphere. “We will be soon if all goes well. My brothers and I are tired. The bottles of DNA gas you added to the Dragars’ temple has given us strength to partially resist the Dragars’ control over us. I fear we may be too late. The destroyer and its two escorts have already left the planet. The recon ship and the destroyer are through the time-gate. Soon, the dreadnaught will join them in the physical dimension.”

  An image flashed in Jeena’s mind. It was an image of her standing near the green sphere. It was an image of her in another time and place.

  “I don’t understand,” Jeena said. “That already happened. You died when we last met.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” replied the green sphere. “What’s important is that even now, you are in another place assisting us to break free of the Dragars’ control. Soon, the ‘helper’ will send your other self a link with Power. Then the version of you in the future will cast the spell to bring my brothers and me together once more. When that happens, we will be able to use the energy of the sacrificed dragons to open a time-gate of our own. We will use it to bring death and destruction to this place where you now stand. You must not be here when that occurs. Go. You have saved us. Go now in peace.”

  “I don’t understand,” Jeena repeated. “I’m supposed to destroy the temple. And what about all these eggs?” Jeena asked as she gestured toward the conveyor belts filled with dragon eggs weaving their way through the worktables. “There must be thousands of unborn dragons in those eggs.”

  “The eggs aren’t your task,” said a voice using emotion-speak. The voice was that of Bright Wing.

  “I can’t leave them to die,” Jeena said. “They’re helpless.”

  “They won’t die,” said Bright Wing sounding very confident. “My brother is here even now. He’ll save them.”

  Something accompanying the dragon’s emotions made Jeena look at the far end of the dome’s floor. She saw a large, black-armored beast. It was firing beams of red energy at a group of the four-armed furry creatures.

  “That black monster?” Jeena asked. “How will it save them?”

  “He isn’t a monster,” answered Bright Wing. “He’s wearing armor. He’s a dragon-friend; he’s an elf friend; and he’s the ‘helper.’ He’ll find a way to save my brothers.”

  “But—”

  “No buts,” said Bright Wing. “If you remain longer, you will endanger my brethren. Your task is completed. Go. Go now, or your death is assured. Go now with our thanks.”

  If the dragon had been speaking with words rather than emotion-speak, Jeena knew she would’ve continued arguing. She could feel the truthfulness and fear in the dragon’s words and knew it was time to go.

  By this time, Stella was standing next to Jeena. Without taking time to explain, Jeena reached out and touched the wizard scout’s arm. At the same time, she touched the runes on the Lady’s staff in the order taught her by Dren. The world immediately began shifting in and out of focus. With a start, Jeena realized something was different. For some reason, Stella wasn’t being included in the spell. Before Jeena could try to stop the teleportation, everything went black.

  Chapter 69 – Merged

  ____________________

  Richard called Bright Wing to him. When she came, the dragon brought Stella with her. The Sterilian gave Richard a toothy grin.

  Richard exited his Warcat and grasped one of Stella’s hands. “I’m not even going to ask how y
ou got here. We’ve got things to do.”

  A bolt of magic energy passed overhead and struck a nearby wall. The arm of the Warcat lifted of its own accord and fired a score of plasma rounds at the Dragar mage who’d released the spell.

  “Take the Warcat,” Richard told Stella. “Link up with the others. They’re trying to stop a destroyer from taking off.”

  “Too late,” said Jonathan, his friend’s battle computer, over the external speaker of her battle helmet. “All three starships left a couple of minutes ago. The commandant and Councilwoman Deluth are onboard the destroyer.”

  Richard’s heart sank.

  “It’s what was meant to be,” said Nickelo. “You can’t change the past. This is what happened. You’ve got your own mission. The destruction of the Mountain’s Heart is your parents’ task.”

  “But maybe we could save them,” Richard said.

  “No,” said Nickelo. “You can’t change history. This is their last mission. You already know they’ll get out of the destroyer in an escape pod. Sergeant Ron will find them. They’ll live. Your mother will become a councilwoman. Your father will become the commandant at the Academy. That’s the way it has to be.”

  Another thought came to Richard. “Sergeant Ron’s wife will die.”

  “Yes, she will,” agreed Nickelo. “You will too if you don’t get moving. So will all of these unborn dragons as well as all of the slaves.”

  Richard looked around. The dome held thousands of slaves. Most of them were cowering under their worktables. Hundreds of Thargs were moving around the dome’s floor firing weapons at the hiding slaves. Other Thargs were firing at the dragon eggs on the conveyor belts. It was turning into a slaughter.

  The senseless murder of the unborn dragons and the slaves caused Richard’s mind to snap. He grasped onto the idea he’d gotten from the dragons’ species memory. He touched Bright Wing with his mind and then began touching the minds of the unborn dragons within the eggs. Richard reached out to the green, orange, and purple spheres. He found them half in and half out of a time-gate. Pooling all of the various dragon resources together, Richard formed a Circle. He doubted he could’ve done it if he hadn’t already been linked closely to the dragons. However, he was, so he could. Once he did, each new link of the Circle strengthened the others.

  The claws and teeth of the unborn dragons hardened. The baby dragons began tearing at the insides of their shells. Their eggs began cracking. First a dozen, then hundreds, then thousands of the dragons hatched. As soon as the young dragons flew into the air, they headed straight for Bright Wing. When they reached her, the bodies of the newly-hatched dragons merged with that of the silver dragon. With each merging, Bright Wing grew in size and power. By the time the last of the newborn dragons merged with Bright Wing, she was fully two hundred meters in length.

  Bright Wing roared her battle cry, then turned her attention to the Dragars and Thargs still under the dome. They began running in a vain hope of escaping the wrath of the immense silver dragon. A few Thargs made it to an exit, but most did not.

  It didn’t take long for Bright Wing to kill most of the Dragars and Thargs under the dome. Once she had trouble finding new targets, Bright Wing blasted a hole in the roof with a spell and flew outside to continue her revenge on her former Dragar masters.

  Richard was still part of the Circle. He extended the Circle to the slaves hiding under the worktables. He expanded the Circle even farther to those slaves outside the dome. Before long, the Circle extended all the way to the far side of the spaceport.

  Funneling energy from the pyramid through the green sphere, Richard tore the restraining collars from the necks of the slaves.

  “Run,” Richard mentally ordered. “Leave this place now. It will soon be destroyed.”

  Along with the command, Richard sent courage to the slaves. His courage increased as it jumped from one link to another. Suddenly, slaves began leaving their hiding places and running for the exits. Many began attacking their former masters and taking their weapons.

  “Time to go, Stella,” Richard said as he began running for an exit. He sensed his friend hot on his heels in the Warcat.

  Once outside, Richard noticed several of the Dragar starships taking off. Dozens of fighter-shuttles were crisscrossing the airfield strafing the running figures of the slaves.

  Richard saw a fighter-shuttle turn to make a strafing run at Stella and him. Before it could fire, four balls of energy slammed into it from overhead. The shuttle burst into flames. A second fighter-shuttle passed through the debris cloud and skidded to a landing twenty meters from Richard. The ramp lowered.

  A small figure ran down the ramp and waved Richard forward. “Let’s go,” shouted Tia’s gunner, Rembis. “We don’t have all day.”

  Richard spied Emerald, Chancee, and General Fenmar inside the shuttle. He ran to join them. He heard the pop of an escape hatch behind him as Stella left the Warcat behind. By the time he got to the bottom of the ramp, the Sterilian had already passed him and taken her seat. Before Richard could sit down, the ramp closed, and the shuttle was off the ground climbing for altitude.

  “Where are the others?” Richard shouted in an attempt to be heard over the roar of the shuttle’s engines.

  Emerald was sitting across from Richard. She caught his attention. “Everyone else is on Matthew’s shuttle. Jerad ordered Tia to pick us up. We told her where to find you. Uh, I’m assuming this lizard is with you.”

  Stella growled.

  Richard hadn’t previously heard the sound from any of the Sterilians he’d ever met.

  “She is,” Richard said. “Where are we headed now?”

  The engine noise suddenly died away as the shuttle reached altitude.

  Tia looked over her shoulder and answered, “Jerad’s ordered us to rendezvous back at the Oracle’s. Uh, I guess you heard about Janice and Thomas?”

  Richard nodded his head.

  Tia turned back around and began doing her best to dodge the fire from some Dragar shuttles that seemed determined to turn them into burning wreckage.

  Since Tia and Rembis were working well as a team, Richard left the flying to them. He concentrated on the Circle. It was starting to fade as he got farther from the dome.

  Richard cut the links to the former slaves. He’d done all he could for them. They were on their own now.

  Contacting Bright Wing with emotion-speak, Richard ordered her to return to the Oracle’s as well. Talking to the silver dragon was a strange experience. She was no longer a single entity. Instead, she was composed of thousands of separate consciousnesses. Fortunately, they all seemed to be of one accord.

  Richard felt Bright Wing’s link to the Circle disconnect. The consciousness’s of the newly-hatched dragons that were part of her continued to remain linked using their own Power.

  At the edge of his thoughts, Richard sensed the green sphere and its two brothers. They were still at the spaceport, but also on a planet in another time and place. Richard recognized the planet. It was the location of the mining camp where the Defiant had fought the black destroyer.

  The green sphere shared an image with Richard of the battle between the Defiant and the Dragar ships. He saw Tia and Matthew destroy the black recon shuttle. He watched the Defiant engaging the black destroyer. Through the time-gate, Richard could see the shape of an enormous black dreadnaught.

  “Are those—”

  The green sphere didn’t wait for Richard to finish his question. “Yes. Those are the same three starships that just took off from the spaceport. My brothers and I were forced to create a time-gate for them. Thanks to the ‘helper’ and you, we are now our own masters. We control the time-gate.”

  As Richard watched, the three spheres forming the time-gate in the image began drawing closer together.

  “Wait,” Richard said. “If what you’re saying is true, my parents are on that destroyer. I have to save them.”

  As Richard watched, two escape pods exited the destroyer and
headed for the shrinking time-gate. First one, then the other escape pod passed through the gate.

  The green sphere’s image followed one of the escape pods. It was gated into the spiritual dimension over an icy planet. The escape pod exploded showering thousands of bits of blue onto the icy surface below. Richard got the impression the gate had taken the first escape pod to a time long before he was born.

  “Was that the Mountain’s Heart?” Richard asked

  “Yes,” replied the green sphere. “Your parents completed their mission by infusing the DNA gas into the gem. They loaded it onto an escape pod and jettisoned it just before they launched their own pod.”

  “What about my parents?” Richard asked. “Will they be safe?”

  “You know they will,” replied the green sphere. “We have gated their pod to the time and place where your Sergeant Ron found them. They will live.”

  “What about you?” Richard asked. “Maybe we can save you?”

  “You know you cannot,” said the sphere. “Our time has come. We have created a time-gate that will set us free. Watch.”

  Fascinated in spite of their current danger, Richard watched the scene playing out in his mind. He sensed the three spheres changing the time-gate surrounding the spaceport. A second image of another spaceport overlaid the one of the Dragars. The second spaceport image looked familiar.

  Richard drew in a sharp breath as he recognized the location. Velos!

  There was fighting around a large building.

  That’s the DNA center, Richard thought

  Somehow, Richard sensed that at the very moment he was watching, a version of him was inside the building fighting side by side with his father. He sensed the commandant, Chief Instructor Winslow, and him shifting into the void. At the same moment, he caught the briefest glimpse of a Crosioian dreadnaught traveling at high speed directly toward the DNA center. When the starship hit, the Velos spaceport was engulfed in flames and flying wreckage.

  The force of the dreadnaught’s explosion shot through the opening between dimensions. The rift in time connecting the crack at the DNA center to the Dragars’ pyramid imploded, bringing a large amount of the exploding dreadnaught with it.