‘Someone needs to stay on the ship, monitor the situation from orbit, and to watch local space. I’d rather you stay here, if you don’t mind,’ Astrid explained.
Rane nodded. ‘Understood. I’m happy with that.’
Astrid nodded.
‘I’ll get us down there,’ Amanda said, and pulled on the local Essentia, wrapping herself and her friends in the Magical energy and focusing on appearing a short distance from the edge of the clearing.
The air snapped, and there was a rush of Magic as she Ported the group to the planet below. Amanda appeared a short distance from her friends in what seemed to be a lush, verdant rainforest environment. The ground was a little soft underfoot, matching the humid air all around them, which had some strange aromas within it, but was perfectly breathable, something her ship had picked up during its scan.
Huge trees sprouted from the ground all around them, covered in moss and creepers while large plants grew unchecked. The sounds of the forest were loud and revealed the landscape to be filled with life, although, they couldn’t see anything close by right now.
Looking around, it only took Amanda a moment to spot the glowing Aegis that protected the compound in the clearing that was a few hundred feet away.
‘Walk or Port?’ Amanda asked as she peered through the foliage at their destination.
‘Walk,’ Astrid said. ‘And, try to mask your Magical signature. Let’s see if we can get close without them knowing we’re here.’
‘Sure thing,’ Amanda said, and pulled her Magic in, suppressing it as best she could while still keeping her Aegis up and running. She didn’t want to be left defenceless. They set off through the forest, walking through the undergrowth, hopping over felled tree trunks and pushing through bushes that scratched at her as she passed them.
All around her were the sounds of the forest. She could hear the screeches and calls of what she guessed might be birds or bird-like aliens, she imagined. There were other noises, too, from rustling noises of things moved unseen through the landscape.
After a moment, she started to feel a little woozy, and on instinct, looked down at her arm. The thorns on the bush had somehow ripped right through her stealth suit — which was armoured — leaving bloody scratches on her arm. Feeling sure something had poisoned her, she turned her senses inward and quickly sensed some toxins rushing through her bloodstream.
Grabbing a tree for support before she fell over, she did her best to focus her Magic, but found she was having trouble. She just couldn’t get a grip on it, and it slipped away from her.
She heard voices around her. They sounded concerned, so she tried to tell them what was going on, tried to warn them, but darkness rushed in.
She had no idea how long she was under for, but the fog quickly pushed away from her mind and she no longer felt sick. She looked up to see Astrid standing over her.
‘You okay there?’ she asked.
Amanda nodded, feeling much better, and stood up. ‘How long was I out?’
‘Just a few seconds. You said something about poison and scratches, and we put the rest together ourselves.’
‘Thank you,’ Amanda said.
‘No problem,’ Astrid said with a smile. ‘But, you be careful of those bushes, you hear?’
‘Was it the bush itself that did this? I mean, it wasn’t a trap set by the Nomads?’
‘It was the bush,’ Lux said. ‘There was nothing nefarious about it.’
‘Excellent,’ Amanda said sarcastically, looking down at the now healed scratches. With a quick working of Magic, she knitted the holes in the suite back together, fixing the tears before working another casting on the suit itself and enhancing the armour that was built into it.
The group continued on, but hadn’t walked more than ten meters before one of the larger plants before them suddenly moved, and something like ten or more thick, four-inch thick green, veined tentacles with what looked like huge venus fly trap mouths on the end waved about before them menacingly.
‘What the hell?’ Amanda cursed, wondering why this world seemed intent on killing them. Amanda called on her Magic, and Essentia rushed in before she reached out to rip the thing apart. Essentia flared around her friends as well, and they hit the plant with a series of powerful Magical attacks. Unable to put up any kind of resistance, the plant was torn apart in a heartbeat before dropping to the floor.
‘We’ve barely been here for a minute and we’ve been attacked twice,’ Amanda said. ‘What’s going on?’
‘I’d guessed after the poisoned scratch, but I wasn’t sure. I’m certain now, though. I think this is a Death World,’ Lux explained.
‘Death World? That sounds just grand, that does,’ Amanda exclaimed.
‘It means the world has been classed both as habitable, but also highly dangerous and hostile to human life. They’ve been called Death Worlds for a long time now. They’re very popular with the Nomads.’
‘No kidding,’ Amanda said as she fell into step with the others once more.
As they neared the clearing, Amanda heard Lux utter a sound of surprise.
‘Oh, Fray,’ she cursed.
Amanda looked over to see a large green-furred animal drop from a nearby tree a short distance in front of Lux. It looked not too dissimilar to a big cat on Earth, except that it was a mottled green. Its yellow eyes stared at Lux as it bared its teeth.
‘Nice kitty,’ Lux said nervously as Essentia flared around her, making her Aegis pulse as she strengthened her defences.
‘Need a hand?’ Amanda asked.
‘I don’t want to kill it,’ Lux said. ‘It’s just doing what comes naturally to it.’
‘I think it wants to kill you, though,’ Amanda quipped.
‘Here, let me,’ Astrid said. Amanda looked over to see her pull one of the guns she had strapped to her thighs.
‘No,’ Amanda said, suddenly scared that Astrid was about to shoot it. It might be just another thing trying to kill them, but she wasn’t keen on killing the big cat, either.
Astrid fired, the gun making a sound not too dissimilar to a ballistic weapon on Earth, but the noise was softer and not as loud. The plasma bolt slammed into the log the cat stood on, making the beast flinch, but it didn’t run away.
‘Hmmm,’ Astrid muttered, sounding a little surprised.
‘Well, that worked,’ Amanda said sarcastically.
‘How was I supposed to know it wouldn’t scare it off?’ Astrid said in good-natured protest.
‘Guys, focus, we still have a cat-thing to deal with,’ Lux said.
Amanda pulled on the local Essentia and worked her Flux Magic, Porting the beast back to where they had first appeared a few hundred feet back the way they’d cone.
‘Aaah, nice move,’ Lux said, smiling over at Amanda.
Amanda shrugged with a smile. It was the first idea that sprung into her head, although, now that the thing was gone, she could think of several more ways she could have dealt with the situation.
The trio continued on, moving through the forest, coving the last hundred feet easily and without incident, reaching the edge of the clearing and the Aegis.
‘Well, this is it,’ Lux said, looking a little nervous.
‘We do this together. No disappearing off looking to be the hero,’ Astrid said.
‘Agreed,’ Amanda nodded. ‘Ready to take out this Aegis?’
The other two nodded, and together they drew on the local Essentia, pulling it into them and as one, releasing it against the Aegis as a concentrated spike of Magical energy that drove into the shield.
As the Aegis cracked, three figures Ported into place on the other side of the Aegis. There were two women and a man there, and they all glowed with Magical energy, including their own Aegises. The lead woman in the middle of the group wore black and red armour that was covered in spikes and small glowing lights. She had long, deep red hair.
The other girl, on the far side of the woman to Amanda, wore a fitted black and green stealth suit; she had shorte
r dark hair. The man, who was closest to Amanda, wore what Amanda thought of as futuristic-looking full body armour in various shades of black and grey. This too was lit up by glowing lights. The man’s hair was short, in a military-style buzz cut and his eyes came to rest on Amanda after looking over the other two to Amanda’s left.
Amanda wondered if any of them were Kade, as she’d not seen what the man looked like yet.
Essentia flared, and before they’d broken through the Aegis, it was cancelled by the Magic of the armoured woman.
‘Visitors,’ the lead woman said. ‘If I’d know we were going to have visitors, I would have cleaned the place up a little.’
‘We’re not here for you, Scralex,’ Astrid said, addressing the woman.
‘You wound me,’ she answered.
‘Drop the act. Where’s Kade?’
‘Kade?’ Scralex asked.
‘Don’t be an idiot,’ Lux barked, clearly getting angry. The woman frowned at the remark.
‘Fray this,’ the man said and worked his Magic, sending a snap of lightning across the emerald grass that smashed into Amanda’s Aegis. The force of the hit knocked Amanda back, but didn’t throw her off her feet. As she split her mind with her Multitasking effect, more Essentia flared as Astrid and Lux started fighting the other two Magi.
The man leapt forward, only for Amanda to visualise what she wanted to do with each mind, making her Magic flare.
Lightning flashed and Essentia surged, hitting the man like a fifty-tonne truck and sending him flying backwards. He hit the floor with a crunch, digging a trench in the dirt as Amanda stepped forward. The man got up, his Aegis still intact, but heavily damaged as a Link blossomed into life in her mind.
~I hate to interrupt, but a ship just lifted off from the planet and boosted away,~ Rane said over the link.
‘No,’ Lux cried out.
Damn it,’ Amanda thought. That had to be Kade, which means these guys are most likely a distraction.
~He’s getting away,~ Lux sent through the group Link.
Amanda glanced left and saw Lux backing off from the fight with the woman in green while Astrid had also gone on the defensive. Amanda turned her attention to the man she’d already hit, who was also the most damaged of the three Nomads and unleashed a concentrated attack of Essentia on him. His Aegis flared under the assault before it ruptured and collapsed entirely, knocking him to the floor. Amanda didn’t pull back, though, and hit him around the head with a series of kinetic punches, trying not to hurt him too much. On the third hit, he fell unconscious.
Satisfied, she whipped up an Aegis around him and turned her attention to the other two and sent a battering ram of kinetic energy at them both, aiming to separate them from Astrid and Lux who were both distracted.
~I want to leave,~ Lux said over their group Link.
~Damn it, Lux, we can’t just stop fighting,~ Astrid yelled back.
~I don’t care, Kade is on that ship, my fight is with him.~
Essentia flared around Astrid as she lashed out at Scralex in anger with a flurry of lightning bolts.
Amanda followed suit, hitting the pair again with more Magical attacks, and after a moment, the two female Nomads Ported out as the battlefield fell back to just the noises of the forest in the background.
‘Damn it, Lux,’ Astrid said, ‘you could have gotten us both killed just then.’
‘Kade has left, my fight isn’t here,’ Lux argued.
‘Isn’t it? And how are we going to find out where Kade is going?’
‘I… uh…’ Lux stammered. She looked flustered and stressed to Amanda and clearly wasn’t thinking straight at all. The weight of her loss was getting to her and affecting her. She’d need to watch her.
‘Easy, we ask the guy over here,’ Amanda said.
Astrid turned to Amanda, her eyebrows raised in surprise. ‘He’s alive?’
‘He is. He’s just out cold, that’s all.’
‘I thought you’d killed him.’
Amanda shook her head with a thin smile.
‘See, we’re alright,’ Lux said, but she wasn’t convincing anyone. This had merely been a lucky break for her. Amanda seriously doubted that Lux knew she had left the male Nomad alive.
‘Lucky break,’ Astrid said, before turning back to Amanda. ‘Okay, where is he?’
‘He’s over here,’ Amanda directed them and led the other two over to the prone body laid out in the tall grass. Amanda cancelled the Aegis that was over him. ‘Do you know who he is?’
‘This,’ Astrid said, ‘is Vastus, one of Scralex’s apprentices and the man that my informant contacted. The other one, the girl in green, that was Aevengel. She’s also an apprentice. They have links to some of the Nomads on Earth,’ Astrid explained.
‘Do you think he’ll know where Kade went to?’ Lux asked, her voice a little sheepish now.
‘Only one way to know for sure,’ Astrid said, and reached out with her Magic and hunted through the man's head, looking for what she needed. ‘I think we have the right one,’ Astrid said, her eyes closed as she worked. ‘He was the one who picked up Kade from Sol Prime alright, which means my informat was telling the turth. Okay, hang on, aaah, got it. Kade is going to…’
Astrid's Magic faded as she withdrew from the Nomad’s mind and opened her eyes.
‘Where? Where’s he going?’ Lux said.
‘He’s running, leaving Nexus space entirely. Trying to lose you by the looks of things,’ Astrid said to Lux.
‘Don’t keep us in suspense, where’s he going?’
‘I got the coordinates and the planet name, but I’ve never heard of it. It’s called Urth.’
‘Earth?’ Amanda asked.
‘No, Urth. U. R. T. H.’
‘Not heard of that one,’ Lux said.
‘Me neither, and it’s a long way out.’
‘How long,’ Amanda asked.
‘Twenty five thousand light years, that’s over eight months travel at maximum Flux for most Aether ships.’
‘I take it there’s no warp gates there, either?’ Lux asked.
‘No idea, but I doubt it,’ Astrid said.
‘Okay, let’s get going,’ Lux said. ‘I’m done with this world.’
Astrid nodded, so Amanda worked her Magic once more and Ported them all up to the ship, appearing on the bridge close to Rane, who sat in her chair waiting.
‘You’re back! Any luck?’ Rane asked.
Astrid nodded and explained what they had found out from the Nomad they had subdued.
‘Eight months away?’ Rane asked.
‘At least,’ Astrid clarified.
‘I can’t be gone for over a year,’ Rane said. ‘You’ll have to drop me back at Sol.’
Astrid nodded. ‘I thought as much.’
Amanda was already sitting in her chair and pulled up the galaxy, showing where they were in relation to Sol and Urth. It was kind of on the way, so they wouldn’t lose much time making a brief stop at Sol. Amanda guessed that Lux wouldn’t be happy, but they couldn’t force Rane to come with them.
‘We can make the brief stop, it shouldn’t cost us much time,’ Amanda said.
‘I would be grateful if it’s not too much trouble,’ Rane said.
‘No trouble at all,’ Amanda said as she brought the ship's core to life with a thought and laid in a course to Sol. Within moments, the ship had entered Flux and was skipping across the galaxy towards Sol once more.
***
Amanda brought the ship in low over Sol Prime, making sure to keep a reasonable distance from any of the spires so that the station’s Space Traffic Control didn’t have a fit.
‘Here you go,’ Amanda said with a smile. It had only taken a little over a week for them to get back to Sol, although the mood on the ship was sombre, leading Amanda to spend a lot of that time alone in her own company. She missed Cyrac, too, but Lux was still really cut up about it, and it seemed that only revenge against Kade would alleviate that pain. Well, that’s what
Lux was implying, but Amanda wasn’t sure it would help as much as Lux was clearly hoping it would.
‘Thank you, Amanda,’ Rane said. ‘This has been a most interesting trip. I hope I can meet you again soon, but under better circumstances next time.’
‘That would be grand,’ Amanda smiled and gave Rane a brief hug.
‘I’m going to head down to the Spire with Rane,’ Astrid said.
‘You’re not coming with us?’ Lux asked.
‘I am, but I have a brief matter to attend to if I’m going to be away for half a year or more. I’ll follow in my ship, I won’t be far behind you,’ she said.
‘Sure thing,’ Amanda said. Over half a year was a long time for sure, but part of her wondered if Astrid just needed to get away from Lux, who was clearly getting to Astrid a little bit. It had to be said, Amanda wasn’t relishing the idea of being on this ship for eight months with a grieving woman, but she wanted to see this through as much as Lux did, so there wasn’t much choice.
Rane hugged Lux and said her goodbyes, as well as muttering some comforting words in Lux’s ear. Amanda could see the tears welling up in Lux’s eyes as she tried to smile.
‘Thanks,’ Lux said.
Rane had been the most sympathetic of them all to Lux’s grief and had spent a lot of time with her over the last week. She was in a much better state than she had been on Pyke, but she was a good way off being her usual self.
With that, they said their goodbyes. Essentia flared. Rane and Astrid were gone with a whip-snap of displaced air, leaving Amanda and Lux alone on the Arkady.
Moving to her seat, Amanda settled herself back into it and laid in a course for Urth, cringing at the time it would take to get there. But that’s where Kade would be, so there was nothing else for it.
Amanda brought the Flux drive online, and the ship shot away from Sol at around two thirty seven thousand times the speed of light.
Revenge
Urth
‘We’re a long way from Sol,’ Amanda said, looking at the holographic map of the galaxy on display before her. They were over twenty five thousand light years from Earth, outside of the disk of the Milky Way in the galactic north. It was the furthest the Arkady had ever flown. ‘Let’s hope he’s here?’
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