The Joining: The Saga of the Shards Book One (The Cycle of the Shards 1)

by Chris Stephenson

  He turned to Tomkari. "Fine. You follow me. We fly straight to Marconia, I get my credits, I'll listen to the holy rollers, and then I'm gone. You don't try and find me again, got it?"

  Tomkari quickly agreed. "Good! Great! Let's get going before they find us!" While Critock was thinking it over, the wisp had noticed that that about half the group had left the ship and were now heading outwards, and would reach the other ships in a few moments.

  Waving a hand forward, Critock started moving in a crouching formation, with Tomkari close behind. They moved together behind and under several cargo ships before reaching their destination, Critock's small hopper that was almost entirely rust colored, which caused Tomkari to think that it was an odd decision until he realized that it was actual rust. They saw a purple faced Cyrian, his long white hair standing straight up adding a foot to his height, and ducked quickly behind the rear wing of the ship.

  "This thing is going to get us to Marconia?" Tomkari was slightly unbelieving.

  "Hull is double-enforced. Outer hull is kinda flaky looking but the inner hull is good for another twenty cycles, thirty if I push it." Critock peered around the corner, and saw the Cyrian heading their way. He plastered himself against the wall, held out a hand to Tomkari to stop, and waited. The Cyrian reached the rear of the ship, grimaced and scratched his knee, then kept moving past the pair. As he walked away, Critock crouched again and the two moved forward along the hull. Reaching a particularly rust free part of the ship, they heard a loud hissing sound. Both Critock and Tomkari looked to their left, and saw the Kirthian, who had somehow made it outside of the bar. His claws were extended, shining in the lights from the shipyard. He snarled, and then quickly began advancing on the pair.

  Critock didn’t panic, even though he wasn’t sure if he could survive the fight with the bloodthirsty animal. He quickly knocked on the hull three times. Instantly a large door opened with a grinding sort of noise, causing the Cyrian to turn around and see Critock jump into the ship with Tomkari quickly following him, just before the Kirthian reached them. As they entered the door closed.

  "HEY! THEY WENT IN THIS ONE! HEY!" The Cyrian called. As the group turned and began closing in on the ship, Critock quickly ran through the catwalks and hard brownish floors to the control chair. When he sat in the chair, the control systems instantly came to life, and the view screen opened, revealing several large guards heading towards them. He started tapping the screen, as Tomkari floated, transfixed.

  "You've got a TK421 Supernova Hopper and you're using manual controls?"

  Critock didn't stop entering the opening flight plans and instructions. "I'm not a soul, I'm keeping my hands. I work faster by instinct, not by thinking about it. Get comfortable, we're almost out of here."

  Outside, the guards were pounding on the outside of the ship. The Kirthian, preferring to use his claws, was scratching at the metal to attempt to rip a hole straight through. Try as they might, they could not get the door to open, and eventually they gave up that tactic, and all but the Kirthian and the Cyrian moved around to the rear of the ship, to a much more vulnerable spot. While the ship's metal resisted lasers and other assorted blasters due to the unique makeup of the material, like most ships it still exhausted energy through it's engine ports to the rear. They lined up at the rear of the ship and began firing directly into the engine ports themselves. Unfortunately for them, it was exactly what Critock was hoping for.

  Without warning, the engine ports erupted in blue solid flame that fired straight back, and directly into their attackers. The sheer power of the engines combined with the energy needed for a quick take off immediately incinerated most of the group, and those that survived were engulfed in flame. Critock's hopper lurched forward and up, gliding over another ship in the hanger. As he moved his fingers across the screen, controlling the ship with precision, it turned and dove out of the main hangar area, and then soared skyward, directly over Sharonik's 'refreshment station', hoping that breaking the sound barrier right then would further anger the bartender. Not like he was ever coming back here anyway.

  The two survivors that had been either smart or lucky enough not to shoot at the engines watched the ship fly away. The Kirthian seethed, having missed his chance to avenge his race’s misfortunes. “I can’t believe it! Critock was here!” He turned to the Cyrian, holding a blaster rifle and gazing skyward. He looked star struck, despite the fact that he was trying to kill the bounty hunter only moments before. The Kirthian growled, grabbed the blaster rifle easily out of his hands, and whipped the Cyrian hard across his face. He fell to the ground bleeding and unconscious as the Kirthian looked back to the sky, hoping that someday he would get another chance…

  Critock sat back in his control chair as the ship soared through the last moments of atmosphere, and enjoyed the sight as pure blackness replaced the slight dark purplish sky of Kastabellos. He turned to Tomkari, who seemed a little shocked at the excitement they had just went through. "Just hang out for a bit, we’re safe, we’re on course, we’ll be there before you know it.” He leaned back his head, and relaxed as the hopper finished clearing the atmosphere of the moon, passed Cyroni, and flew off into the stars.

  4

  Kyle Edison preferred quiet days. Days with nothing to do, no major requirements upon him, and as little strife as possible. Unfortunately for him, this Tuesday was not shaping up to be one of those days at all. The morning had passed without much interest. His father had went back into work early, leaving him alone to face the day. As usual, this was what he preferred. The morning classes went as well as he could expect, with nobody calling on him, and nothing of any great challenge to accomplish. Then it was time for lunch, and everything went to hell.

  He had went through the lunch line and for once, he hadn't seen Brian Boyd at all. Which was fortunate for the extra reason that he was pretty hungry and would enjoy actually eating his lunch for a change instead of seeing someone else eating it.. Once past the very nice underpaid lunch lady, he found an empty table outside to claim for himself and whoever else from his small circle happened by, and settled in with his tray of square pizza, milk, and a vegetable that he couldn't quite identify, and went to take his first bite when suddenly he felt a strong push and found himself on the concrete ground. The momentary pain was replaced with dread as he looked up at his attacker. It looked like Brian Boyd was at school after all.

  "You forgot me? Started eating all by yourself? I'll forget this time, but I'll need enough to get my own lunch. Hand it over." Kyle slowly rose to his feet. The money he had used to pay for his lunch was all that he had.

  "You're too late, I don't have any left." Kyle felt a little rebellious all of a sudden. He knew facing off with the bully was a mistake, but he almost couldn't stop himself. Maybe it was just the angry rush from being pushed down unexpectedly. "You're just going to have to go after some kindergartners or something."

  "Heh." Brian wasn't used to someone talking back to him. "Well, I guess nobody's eating today." With that, he took one of his large hands and swept the lunch tray to the ground, scattering its contents across the hard concrete.

  Kyle would never know why he did what he did, but instead of backing down from the larger boy's challenge, he actually took a step closer to him. He was fed up. Tired of dealing with Brian's nonstop aggression, tired of putting up with all the nonsense that came with growing up and school and everything else. Inside he had been slowly building an anger that had no real reason for being other than the regular injustice of being who he was and where he was in life. Now it was all bubbling to the surface in an arena that he was unfamiliar with. He stared Brian straight in his eyes, despite having to look up six inches. "Why did you do that? Why do you always do this?"

  Brian wasn't used to being questioned by his prey. He wasn't smart in the sense that would have helped him succeed in school, but he did know enough to look out of the corner of his eyes to make sure there were no teachers close enough to see him shove Kyle back, almost knoc
king him over. "Get out of my face, ass."

  Kyle, however, was not smart enough to assess his surroundings, and so when he inadvisably stood up and delivered a return shove to Brian, Mrs. Smith had glanced outside at the unexpected motion and saw him deliver the push. Brian was surprised at the shove, and at the same time he caught the teacher with a glance. He quickly decided to fall backwards, selling his fall to make it much worse than it actually was.

  Brian's ploy worked as Mrs. Smith moved briskly through the double doors that led to the courtyard. "What's going on out here! Explain yourself!" She sounded as if she was addressing both combatants but she was staring straight at Kyle.

  "He pushed me! I didn't do anything, just came out here and talked to him!" The sale was still working as Brian held his arm as though in pain, though the bully had really never felt better.

  "That's a lie you shit!" The lit fuse had gone off, and Kyle couldn't hold back his language, which even in this day and age still caused the grey haired ex-kindergarten teacher to gasp and place a hand over her mouth.

  When she regained her composure, she stared daggers at Kyle. "Get to the principal's office right now. We will not have this here!"

  Kyle thought about challenging her, about going after Brian again while he was still playing up his fake injury. But with the added attention and the new fear of punishment, his anger was fading, and quickly being replaced with dread.

  Kyle had faced a lot of humiliation, but essentially being frog marched by a teacher fifty years his senior into the main office was rising to the top of the list. Even worse when he realized who was assisting in the office. Daniel was there, but as he had had his own list of problems that he had to work through over the last couple years Kyle knew that he was the last person that would throw stones. Next to Daniel was the last person he wanted to see him like this. Shanna Ewing.

  He was sure he had known she was in the office. He cursed his stupidity as he was moved past her quickly, and she looked on with a strange look on her face. He could only imagine what was going through her head, though the look surprised him. Was she upset with him? Would she move chairs now in Computer Science? Or was she...concerned? A million paranoid thoughts rushed through his brain as he was quickly sat in the principal's office. With a sniff, Mrs. Smith spoke. "Mr. Tompkins will be in shortly. Don't touch anything." Satisfied with her work, she turned around and walked out of the room, leaving Kyle alone in the office. The door was open so it wasn't like she was leaving him totally alone, but he was surprised at the amount of freedom that he was being given. Or was it a test, hoping that he would run out of the room? He was worried enough about what kind of punishment he was going to receive. Lost in thought about the myriad possibilities ranging from expulsion to some kind of reward for standing up for himself, he nearly jumped out of his skin when he suddenly heard a whisper.

  "Hey, what're you in for?" Daniel was standing right outside, technically breaking the rules but since the office was so busy this time of day nobody was noticing.

  Kyle sighed. "Brian came after me. Pushed him. Mrs. Smith saw me." He wasn't trying to make it sound any bigger than it was, but it did come out like something he should be proud about, which is exactly how Daniel took it.

  "Really? Brian, huh. Good for you. I wouldn't mind taking a crack at him myself. Asshole's going to get into a fight he can't power his way out of someday. " Kyle smiled. At least someone was on his side. He chanced it and glanced around the corner of the door, and saw Shanna looking at them. When she saw Kyle's face, she waved, which caused him to instantly pull his head back into the room, his face reddening. Daniel looked at him, then back at Shanna, who had returned to helping the secretary file the day's absences. He muttered something unintelligible. "You know, John's right. You really should say something to her. It's getting a bit annoying watching you dance around her all the time."

  Kyle put his head back, hitting it softly on the wall. "Considering the only thing he ever talks about is how screwed up Claire is, I kinda tune him out."

  "...Watch it." As Daniel walked back into the office suddenly, Kyle remembered that Daniel had recently gone out on a few dates with Claire. He sighed, wondering how else he was going to mess things up today.

  He didn't dare take a look back outside into the office. He was surprised that she had waved at him. Why did she wave at him? As he was sitting there lost in his own thoughts he heard a sound of stomping feet moving closer to his direction. He turned and saw Brian enter the office, smirking, and sat in the seat on the other side of the office. Right behind him was Principal Tompkins, stern as ever, who closed the door behind him, then crossed to his desk. He sat down quickly, swiveled around, and peered out the window at something for moment, leaving both Kyle and Brian in an uncomfortable silence. Then he swiveled back around, and looked at Kyle.

  "I'm very disappointed with you." He swiveled slightly. "And you, Brian. How many times does this make this school year so far? Five? Six?"

  Brian exploded. "It wasn't my fault! The little jackass pushed me!"

  Kyle went right back at him, his trepidation forgotten in favor of his earlier anger. "He threw my lunch on the ground! And he's been taking..."

  "I DON'T CARE!" Mr. Tompkins bellowed suddenly, then seemed to remember where he was, and cleared his throat, placing his fingers in a pyramid under his chin. "I will not have this in my school. Do either of you know what the words zero tolerance mean?" He paused, but not long enough to actually let either of the two answer. "It means that we do not put up with these types of issues here. There will be no fighting, no pushing, no anything. Now as this is the first recorded infraction between the two of you, I will happily let this one pass as a learning experience. Be friends! I'm sure you'll find you have plenty in common despite this disagreement."

  Kyle gave Brian an angry look, who just grinned.

  Mr. Tompkins continued. "I also believe that the best learning comes from the parents, not the school. I will personally notify each of your parents, who I'm sure will have something more to say to you about this. Now this is your one warning from me. Next time I see EITHER of you in here for any reason, you'll be sent home immediately with a nice pamphlet of my favorite reform school. Do you understand me?"

  Both gave fairly non-committal grunts of agreement.

  "Good!" Tompkins finished. "Now get out of here, it's almost time for the next period." He swiveled back around, and obviously expected them both to leave quickly. Kyle quickly stood up to get out, but Brian pushed past him, whispering to him as he moved.

  "Tomorrow."

  As Brian walked quickly out of the office and down the hall, Kyle found his legs turning into lead. He knew it wasn't an idle threat. Tomorrow he was going to be forced to make good on his earlier aggression, potentially with an audience. This on top of his dad having been called so he was going to have to deal with that tonight. He sighed heavily, and slowly moved down the hallway. For once, he had completely put Shanna out of his mind before he heard her voice calling after him right as he hit the doorway.

  "Hey, Kyle!"

  If anything could have made Brian, his dad, and every other source of strife in his life disappear, it was her voice, and as he turned he saw her walking towards him. Today she was dressed in a medium-length dress, well within school dress code regulations, yet to him it seemed almost too distracting. He almost forgot to answer her.

  "I, um, hey." He sputtered out. She smiled at him and despite all the things that were happening to him today all he could do was smile back.

  "You headed to the Computer Lab?" She sweetly asked.

  "Yeah...?"

  "Can I walk with you? I hate going all the way over there by myself, and I never get to talk with you outside there."

  "Uh, yeah, sure!" Kyle's inside were on red alert. What was going on! Why did she want to walk with him, and to talk with him? This wasn't making any sense.

  The two began their path from the first floor, up the stairs, to the second floor right a
cross from the library on the east wing. As they walked, Shanna was talking a mile a minute, and Kyle was smart enough to let her go on, just fascinated at her talking. She was never like this in Computer Science.

  "So the secretary forgot Eddie's name and got it mixed up with Elsie and for the rest of the year all the paperwork had him being a girl. I thought we were going to get sued, it was hilarious." She laughed loudly, and he chuckled along with her. "So what was that all about in there? I don't see you much around the office. Or...well, anywhere, really."

  Kyle was less than enthusiastic about sharing his lapse in judgment with the girl he couldn't stop thinking about. "Eh, just a disagreement with Brian. Nothing really."

  She raised an eyebrow. "That's disappointing."

  "Disappointing?"

  "Well, you're either lying or hiding things, and neither is very fun. Disagreements don't cause Tompkins to call parents. He hates parents."

  "...Sorry. Wait, the principal hates parents?"

  "Yeah. Well, talking with them. Or seeing them. Pretty much everything about them. All he does is moon over that stupid car..." She was cut off by the alarm of the warning bell. "Shit. Let's go in. We'll have to do this more often." She smiled brightly again, then turned around and moved into the lab. He wanted to follow her immediately, but he was frozen in returning the smile. She talked to him. And now they would spend the rest of the class together. What had looked like the worst day ever was now turning into possibly the best.