Stones and Dave were at our usual table when I got there.
As I sat down, Stones said, “Whoa, look who jumped the line!”
“No, I waited my turn like … oh, you mean the armor?” I said.
He nodded. “Yeah! How did you get it so fast? You’re not even an apprentice yet! Rots, man, you haven’t even completed your first year as a student.”
‘Rots’ was one of his odd little curses. The first time he said it it threw me off, but as with anything I was getting used to it. It seemed that life here was all about finding a new normal. “How long does it normally take?”
“If you get into the program, it can take years. Of course, you can’t even start until you’re an apprentice,” replied Stones.
Dave nodded. “Some skip ahead, but that’s very rare. Stones and I have been trying for years to get in, but our applications keep being rejected without comment.”
“So how did you get it?” asked Stones.
“I guess it’s because I was recruited out of the special forces,” I said with a shrug. “If you can’t join until you’re apprentices, how come you tried?”
“Oh, well, everyone does. If you get accepted you finish training here, but right after graduation you ship out,” said Stones.
“How long do you two have left in your program?” I asked.
“Just a few more months,” he said.
Dave nodded. “We both became students five years ago and should have graduated last year, but Stones missed some time due to illness and I stayed back with him.”
That made sense, since neither of them seemed to do anything without the other. Stones was the stronger personality of the two, and if they were deployed they would probably be split up. I worried about how Dave would do without his brother.
“Hey, maybe you could … ” Stones’ voice trailed off and he jumped to his feet, snapping to attention at the same time. Dave copied him so I got up also, not yet sure why. A life spent primarily in one military outfit or another had taught me to salute first and question later. One missed salute with the wrong officer could be a disaster.
“Hey, Ly,” said Master Phoenix. There was a twinkle in his eye as he approached the table. He had never joined me for a meal before, and was attracting a lot of attention as he walked over. I suspected he was up to another of his jokes.
“Hello, Master Phoenix,” I said with a smile.
“Can I sit with you?”
“I don’t know; can you?” I asked. If I was going to be the target of one of his jokes, I was going to get a piece of the action.
Master Phoenix’s lip slightly curled up, but he kept his face serious. Dave and Stones went pale at my remark. Stones said quickly, “Master, please have our seats,” and started to leave.
“Nonsense, there is plenty of room. Master Phoenix, this is Stones and his brother Dave.” I turned to them and said, “Guys, let me introduce Master Phoenix, though you seem to recognize him. He’s been training me for the past few months.”
“Are you serious? He’s the private tutor you mentioned?” sent Dave privately.
“Yes, and he’s a bit of a joker, so watch yourself,” I sent back.
When everyone had settled down, Phoenix started to eat a rather boring salad. He ate slowly and chewed very deliberately, lost in thought about something, which created a very awkward silence.
“Sir, how is recruitment going for the Battle Wizards?” I asked to break the silence.
He looked at me suspiciously. “Poorly; we’re having a tough time trying to find wizards who want to leave the safety of the school.”
“Really?” That seemed strange, considering the conversation I’d just had with Stones and Dave.
“I guess most wizards are choosing the easy life of an academic instead of the dangerous business of war,” commented Master Phoenix.
“That is odd, sir. Stones and Dave both applied and were immediately rejected without being told why,” I commented.
Dave’s face was priceless. I doubt if he could have looked more scared if he’d seen his own ghost.
Master Phoenix looked at me, and his expression told me he knew what I was up to. “Is that so? Well, show me the rejection notification and your applications.”
Dave was frozen, but Stones jumped into action and pulled out his datapad. “Here, Master.”
Dave fumbled around and quickly followed Stones’s lead.
Master Phoenix took the datapads and looked over the information presented. His expression indicated that he wasn’t happy with what he was seeing.
“Excuse me, if you don’t mind,” he said. His tone implied that he didn’t really care if we minded. He walked off a few paces and cast some sort of spell which prevented us from hearing or seeing anything within a meter of him. It was as if he were surrounded by a thick soap bubble. I could see in, but everything was distorted beyond recognition.
Stones said nervously, “Do you think we’ll get those datapads back?”
I smiled. “I’m sure you will. My guess is that he’s checking to see why you were rejected.” I decided not to add that his facial expression meant trouble for somebody.
Dave kept his eyes on the soap bubble. “That sure would be a useful spell to learn.”
I definitely agreed. “I plan to ask him about that tomorrow. I assume it is part of the wards line, which means I might be able to learn it.”
Master Phoenix came back to the table and handed over their datapads. He sat down again, looked at me and asked, “Would you be willing to write a letter of recommendation for these men?”
That really put me on the spot! I suppose it was only fair, since I’d just done the same to him. “Sir, I have only known them for a couple months, but I believe they’re men of integrity and loyalty.”
Phoenix kept his eyes on mine. “I need you to run a rescue mission in five minutes. You’ll be dropping into a hot zone under enemy fire. Do they join you?”
That was clever. “Sir, I’d be glad to have them at my side in a combat mission.”
He leaned back and said, “Very well. Congratulations, Seventh Rank Battle Wizard Stones and Seventh Rank Battle Wizard Dave. Your official orders will arrive in a few days.”
They looked at each other and back at him, then eventually Stones gasped, “Thank you, sir!”
“Lyshell, I think you owe me a favor now,” sent Master Phoenix. I could feel the smile in his mental voice.
“I’m not so sure about that. I saw your face when you read the reports, sir. I suspect I tipped you off about something,” I sent back.
“You did indeed, and I must go and speak with the administration here. Their applications were rejected without review and never reached my office. That is not how I run my division, and I’ll make that very clear to them.” The mirth was gone from his mental voice. I decided not to pursue that conversation any further.
42
05-06-0067 - Stones
“Blue Wing, prepare for jump. We’re going in hot,” came the voice of Blue Leader over the comm.
I quickly locked my fighter’s controls to those of the wing leader, then turned back to look at my brother and gunner. “Ready, Dave?”
He smiled and gave me a thumbs-up.
I pulled up the tactical readout of the jump zone. A trading fleet had been ambushed by a pirate gang and had placed a call for help. The combined forces of the Battle Wizards and the Aleeryon Navy were beating the pirates farther back every day, but our space was too big and too sparsely populated to remain completely free from pirates.
“Looks like a pretty large trade fleet; not their usual target,” I commented.
“The pirate fleet doesn’t look big enough to take them on,” he noted.
“And yet they’re winning somehow.”
The comm crackled to life. “Jump in three … two … one … ”
The azure of jump space wrapped around us like a warm blanket. Mundanes often commented about how disconcerting they found jump travel, but for
a magus it was like going home to your grandmother’s cooking.
As we cleared jump space, my board lit up with alarms. “She wasn’t kidding about it being hot!”
Inertia pulled at my body as I forced the fighter into a tight spiral in an effort to break the numerous target locks on us.
“Blue Six, their command ship has been boarded. Assist and be careful,” said our wing leader. Her voice was soft and she seemed to care about her wing; she wasn’t at all the typical harsh, business-like wing commander with whom I was used to serving.
“Roger, Command, we’re going in.” I reoriented the fighter so that their command ship was down and dove towards it.
“Stones, we’ve got a tail,” called my brother.
I pulled hard to the side and then back again, executing a maneuver known as ‘Scissors’ which was designed to make an enemy overshoot your flight path.
“It’s not working,” said Dave.
“Blue Three, are you out there? We could use some cover fire,” I called on the comm.
“I’ve got you,” he replied.
I pulled out of the Scissors, banking hard towards Blue Three. The enemy fighter followed but hadn’t managed to get a lock. Blue Three cut across our tail with guns blazing.
“Yeehaw!” he cried out as the fighter behind us exploded silently.
Dave groaned behind me.
I smiled. “Thanks, Blue Three!” I replied and brought us back on course towards the command ship. “Looks like that cargo bay is open.”
“The pirates probably blasted their way in there,” responded Dave.
As we neared the spacecraft, I set the autopilot to take over. It would find a place to attach itself to the hull and wait for us.
“Autopilot engaged. The Hammer Brothers are going in,” I said over the comm. Dave and I drew our wands and teleported over to the cargo bay.
The cargo bay was open to space, exposing it to hard vacuum. That meant the three people guarding the airlock couldn’t hear us approach.
“They have their backs to the exterior entrance and are ready to shoot anyone leaving the craft,” sent Dave over our telepathic network.
“Probably means they’re bad guys,” I sent back.
“You want to risk attacking on a ‘probably’?” he said.
I sighed. “No. Take cover over there,” I sent, gesturing to what was most likely the pirates’ boarding craft. The trade fleet was modern, clean and sleek in the design of its craft, and that one ship stuck out. It looked like it had been cobbled together from parts scavenged from a dozen different sources.
I had a perfect shot at their backs; it would be much safer to strike, but I didn’t think I could live with myself if my instinct that they were pirates was wrong.
I pulled the blast shield from my back and held it in front of me. It was emblazoned with the Wizard Kingdom flag and should protect me if they turned and started shooting. I flipped the setting on my headlamp so it sent a narrow beam of light across the space between myself and the probable pirates.
As soon as the light hit the wall they turned, looked at my shield and opened fire. I quickly teleported to cover as Dave responded with earth bolts from his wands. Three rocks accelerated, one toward each pirate. They were too busy looking for me and didn’t see the rocks in time. All three hit their targets; the force of the impact sent the three pirates crashing silently into the wall of the cargo bay.
I waited behind cover watching them, but they just drifted off, slowly moving out of the bay after bouncing off the wall. The eerie silence of combat in a vacuum was always a bit disconcerting. Events should make sounds; that was how it worked, that was normal and right. Here in a vacuum that normality failed. No atmosphere meant no medium through which sound could travel.
“Let’s move,” sent Dave.
I teleported to the airlock and saw that, like most ships, it had portholes. I smiled. The navy was engaged in the slow process of removing all portholes, but they were doing it quietly. So far almost all ships still had portholes like this, allowing wizards the line of sight they needed to teleport safely into a ship without bothering to go through the airlock cycle.
“A distinct lack of air in here, but at least we have artificial gravity,” I noted, once we were on board.
“The hull was pretty badly damaged; they probably have a few hull breaches in this section.”
“The pirates would have headed towards engineering or the bridge.”
“Or both, but we should make for the bridge anyway. If the captain is safe, the crew will be much easier to work with,” replied Dave.
“Standard model thirteen Aldeerian Cruiser?” I guessed, and pulled up a map on my battle armor’s computer. “This way,” I sent as I moved along the route which the computer suggested was the fastest route to the bridge.
The corridors were eerie in the silence of a hard vacuum. The walls were scorched from blaster fire, doors had obviously been forced open and occasionally bodies were pushed up against walls. I was thankful that the airless corridors allowed no stench of death to seep through.
“Surely we’re deep enough inside for blast doors to have closed and kept the air in?” asked Dave.
“Maybe the pirates kept breaking through them?” I sent back.
We found the entrance to the bridge under siege. Any member of the crew still living was likely to be behind the sealed doors. The doors to the bridge of any cruiser are heavily armored and provide adequate protection from most disasters, but these pirates had come prepared and were using plasma torches to cut the heavy metal plating.
Gesturing for Dave to take cover, I took careful aim at the torch and cast an earth bolt at it. The bolt struck, smashing it to pieces and causing the attackers to turn around. I lifted my blast shield to show the emblem and they all dove for cover.
I slipped to the side, using the remains of a blast door for cover, just as they opened fire on my position.
“I think that makes them bad guys,” I sent.
“The scrolls, then?” he asked.
The pirates outnumbered us by eight to two, it seemed, and they were surprisingly well-armed. Since we needed to attack their position, they had the advantage of cover. They just had to wait for us to show our faces and then open fire.
We each pulled out one of several scrolls we carried for just this type of situation. As I read from the scroll, the magic stored inside was released and the paper consumed itself. In front of me, a large stone humanoid creature was formed out of a swirling cloud of rock. Moments later a second creature began to take shape.
“Attack.” I sent that simple command to the golems. The creatures turned and walked towards the pirates.
There was a delay before anything else happened, then the bright flashes of light that denoted blaster fire filled the corridor. It would do no good; the rock of which the elementals were made was virtually immune to small-arms fire.
I didn’t watch. I just kept my head down until the flashes of light stopped. Even then I waited another minute before slowly poking my head out to see the two elementals standing over what remained of the pirates’ bodies.
43
05-06-0067 - Stones
“So, now what? Knock?” asked Dave.
“Well, they probably have atmosphere in there, so they can’t just open the door and let us in,” I sent back. I set my armor’s computer to scan all the common communications frequencies to see if I could find which one they were using. Nothing came up.
“Good point. Perhaps we can find a terminal and reach them that way?” he suggested.
Not for the first time, I wished for the completion of the project that was rolling out a standard communications network for the kingdom was complete, but even in the Wizard Kingdom wishing didn’t achieve much.
I nodded, though I wasn’t sure he could see that with my helmet on, set the golems to guard the bridge door and turned down the corridor. We tried the first door we came across and found what looked like someone’s
personal quarters. The room had been ransacked, and there was a stain on the floor that looked like blood. I tried not to think about it as I moved to the computer interface on the wall.
The controls were labeled with fairly clear icons, and I was able to bring up the bridge. An older man with a bandaged head appeared on the screen.
“This is the captain, and who in the seven plagues are you?” he said with a curse.
That was not the most civil way to address a caller, but the bandage on his head had fresh blood and the look in his eyes was that of an exhausted man. Most of his crew was probably dead or dying, making his rudeness understandable.
“Sixth Rank Battle Wizard Stones of the Wizard Navy, sir. We removed the pirates from the cargo bay and the ones attacking the door to your bridge. Are there more on board?”
“We lost contact with engineering, but we still have full control of the ship. I assume that means engineering is under assault.”
“Understood, sir. We’ll go there,” I said.
I was about to cut the line when he held up his hand.
“Wait.” He took a swig of some drink and continued. “We vented the air from the entire ship except the bridge. Engineering we filled with an inert gas to prevent fires while keeping the area pressurized.”
That was a common tactic. By keeping the area pressurized, anyone attacking would either have to go through an airlock to get in, or cut through a blast door. If they cut through a blast door, there would be a momentary rush of gas in their face, giving the defenders a better chance at taking the initiative in the attack.
It was a poor tactic that rarely worked, but it was often used.
“How many people do you have down there?” I asked.
“Probably none. I think the remainder of my crew is here on the bridge. If we had engineers down there, they would have responded by now.”
I nodded. I didn’t care much for his conclusion, but it made sense. “We’ll contact you again when we’ve taken engineering, sir.”
Mage Hunter (Lost Tales of Power Book 8) Page 21
