Nor did Tal have any difficulty catching the message—perhaps Kass’s talents were rubbing off on him. Weird wasn’t quite covering the sudden influx of the psychically gifted into the rebellion. Mondragon might find it amusing, Tal didn’t. Then again, if Tegge had Psyclid-like gifts, it seemed more likely she would side with the rebels than with the inflexible, unbelieving Empire.
“Helmsman, set course to Choya gate.”
After a bit of midnight persuasion, Kass had admitted to knowing an alternate wormhole on the far side of Tat, one she hadn’t mentioned while urging him to avoid Tat altogether. The only problem, she’d told him, was that in order to reach Choya gate, they had to pass within five hundred marks of 323, the standard jumpgate they’d used when first traveling to Tat. The gate where Fleet might well be waiting. And if they took a roundabout route to Choya gate, the battlegroup that had ambushed them earlier would have time to catch up. Presuming, of course, Fleet suspected that Astarte had returned to Tat and not headed directly back toward the heart of Regulon territory. Or someone, using Fleet’s powerful communication system, had informed them
As always, Tal had to assume worst case—a battlecruiser and two hunterships were still on his heels. And furious over Mondragon’s deception. Therefore, Astarte would make best speed to Choya and hope their luck held out.
“Engineering, give us all you’ve got. I want to tear past 323 like a comet hell-bent on exiting the whole batani galaxy.”
He felt Kass smile. Maybe one day soon—if they lived that long—he’d begin to like this soulmate thing.
Chapter 27
They were two days out of Tat and moving fast, hoping to bypass gate 323 far enough off Fleet scanners that any lurking blockade would never know they were there. Kass, after nearly four years at the Academy absorbing the latest in Fleet technology, had her doubts. The former Orion’s systems had not been updated in more than two years. It was possible Fleet scanners would pick up the two rogue hunterships while Astarte’s scanners remained blank.
The critical moments when they were closest to 323 were approaching fast. K’kadi, who swore he was recovered from his last psychic effort, was seated next to her at Tac, Jagan once again occupying the second seat at Engineering. Kass reached out with her limited telepathy. Jagan?
Nothing. But my skin crawls like the days before the invasion.
Tell him!
He knows. He’s just hoping this won’t be a worst case.
Kass repressed a shiver. She’d fought to attend the Academy so she could become a warrior. Now was the time to prove she could be something more than Captain Rigel’s hotshot Psyclid freak playing at war.
K’kadi’s fingers closed over Kass’s arm, offering comfort. Did he too feel doom hovering? Or was he simply picking up on her personal distress? Kass patted his hand, flashed a reassuring smile.
Tension on the bridge was so high the air twanged with it, like an overwound lutà string. But the crew remained controlled, professional. The bridge crew might be rebels dressed as smugglers, they might be running for their lives, but their discipline was all Fleet.
Kass kept her eyes fixed on her hologlobe, its range set to maximum. They were coming up on Gate 323 . . . passing 323, passing, passing . . . all scanners clear. Kass watched Tal’s jaw tighten as he gave the order to decrease speed and make the course correction that would send them into a shallow climb toward Choya. Kass gulped a breath. So far, so good.
K’kadi poked her in the ribs. Kass scowled at her hologlobe, still seeing nothing. Her brother jammed a finger at the edge of the globe nearest Gate 323, now behind them, where a dark shadow had suddenly appeared. As Kass watched, hoping she seeing nothing more than a glitch in the graphics, the shadow separated into multiple amorphous shapes. Five of them. No-o! Kass grimaced as the shapes took on definition, transforming into recognizable icons. A battlecruiser, two hunterships, and two frigates. Pok, dimi, and fyd!
Not a good day to die. Too much left undone. Too little love. Too little life.
“Battlegroup,” Dorn Jorkan called out. “Headed straight for us. They know we’re here.”
“Comm, alert Scorpio,” Tal snapped. “Engineering, if there’s any more speed in this bucket of bolts, now’s the time. K’kadi, can you disappear a ship long-distance?” Tal paused, rephrased. “What I’m asking is, can you make Scorpio disappear instead of Astarte?”
K’kadi’s azure eyes grew wide. He glanced at Kass, tossed his mane of white-blond hair, then stared at the hologlobe where Scorpio’s icon glowed clearly, precisely thirty marks behind Astarte. He drew a deep breath. Scorpio winked out.
Exclamations and harshly expelled breaths rippled across the bridge. “Well done, K’kadi, thank you,” Tal said. “Bring Scorpio back. I’ll tell you when we need to do it for real. “Mondragon, anything you can do for us?”
Kass shivered. A firefight was out of the question. They didn’t stand a chance, but with the combined talents of Jagan, K’kadi, and herself . . .
Jagan and K’kadi, Kass amended, chagrined. Her great talent was teleportation, and in this situation she was useless. Messing with the missile trajectories of five Fleet warships, and the swarm of fighters they would launch, was out of the question. She simply couldn’t do it. Useless, she was useless.
No, you’re not.
Dimi! Jagan needed to stay out of her head. Am so! Kass returned. Forget about me and concentrate on one of your magic spells to slow them down.
“Three hundred marks and closing,” Kass intoned. Pok, but Fleet’s newest engines were fast!
Now all they needed was for Scorpio to launch missiles straight up their tail. Then Tal would know who was right.
Appalled, Kass considered her fleeting thought. There was a word for that kind of attitude. The ancients called it a Pyrrhic victory. In other words, you might be right, but you would be too dead to enjoy it.
“Time to Choya?” Tal asked.
“Eighty minutes at max sub-light,” Kass returned.
Fyd!
Kass could only hope no one but Jagan heard Tal’s reaction.
“I can buy us some time, Rigel,” Jagan declared, “but I’ll need to leave the bridge, work with my people. Sorry, but that’s the best I can do. You’ll have to trust me.”
Kass? Tal asking her opinion.
Go for it.
“Permission to leave the bridge granted.” Am I going to be sorry about this?
Kass returned a wave of reassurance. Whatever Jagan was or wasn’t on a personal level, he excelled in the practice of magic. Especially when he broke one of Psyclid’s most basic rules and linked minds with his assistants in the forbidden enlasé. And that was almost certainly what he was about to do.
Sixty minutes. “Battlegroup, two hundred marks and closing.” And no sign Jagan and his magic circle of companions were doing anything but sitting around drinking kafi and telling tales of past travels.
Unfair. Jagan’s coterie of warlocks and witches were as interested in saving their own skins as everyone else.
Half the distance to Choya and the battlegroup was still gaining. Kass gasped, blinked, refocused on her hologlobe, just as she heard, “What the fyd . . . ?” coming from the captain’s chair.
A great swirling mass of . . . something had erupted between the battlegroup and the rebel ships. Fascinated, Kass watched as it gradually coalesced into a form remarkably like a monster out of a nightmare. Kass studied the hologlobe’s grid lines. Fizzet! Whatever it was, it was twice the size of Astarte and growing rapidly. A monstrous head—part dragon, part gargoyle—massive teeth, a long, lashing tail. Flashes of strange colors randomly illuminated the whole. Illusion or black magic? At the moment Kass didn’t care. It was magnificent.
The Fleet ships slowed abruptly. Their icons wavered, as if encountering a magnetic storm. Merveille! Not just an illusion. No wonder it had taken Jagan a while to conjure this bit of the black arts. But how long could he hold it? This was so far beyond the illusion of a huntership
. . . and at a greater distance.
No idea, Jagan spoke into her mind. Never done this before. Tell Rigel to get a move on!
Kass glanced at the scowl on the face of the chief engineer and decided there was no need to pass on that bit of advice.
“Your sorcerer’s earned his keep,” Tal said. “That’s one hell of an illusion.”
“You’d better tell Tegge to keep up, because it just might nip her in the rear,” Kass returned blandly. “That’s black magic, Captain, not an illusion.”
Kass would swear the bridge temperature dropped, as a cold wind of fear blew through. Not that she blamed the crew. Whatever that creature was out there, it was worthy of anyone’s abject terror.
No beacon marked Choya gate, but they were close enough Kass could see the faint spacial distortion on her holo. Twenty minutes out . . . fifteen. They just might make it.
Tell Rigel . . . losing . . . blockade. Kass could feel Jagan’s exhaustion. Not good.
“Captain, Jagan reports their powers drained,” Kass announced, voice steady though anguish gripped her heart. Destruction loomed. We’re still twelve minutes out.” The monster cloud suddenly dissolved, wisps flicking across the hologlobe, dissolving, disappearing . . .
With a pause only long enough to take in the change in situation, the five fleet ships accelerated, eating up the distance between them. No doubt about it, Fleet had added a few new wrinkles to their sub-light engines.
Kass felt Jagan’s exhaustion . . . and his chagrin. Too bad his monster hadn’t gotten close enough to eat a ship or two. Could it? She had no idea. She hadn’t seen Jagan dabble in black magic since he was a heedless teen, showing off for the Princess Royal. And he’d never conjured anything bad. Well . . . there’d been that very hairy spider when he knew she absolutely hated spiders. And then there was the Medusa moment . . .
Not that any of it mattered now. Unless a miracle appeared, the rebellion was about to come to an abrupt end.
Kass fixed her gaze on the hologlobe, observing the inevitable. Her mind seemed to detach itself, growing cold and hard. No longer a gladiator, she had become a mere spectator. Helpless, ridiculously helpless.
Scorpio closed the gap to ten marks. Readying for an attack on Astarte, or closing ranks for better defense? At eight minutes out, the five Fleet ships surged forward, spreading out in a giant pincers movement, encircling the two rebel hunterships.
Surrounded. After all their efforts . . . they were surrounded, five ships to two. If, that is, Scorpio didn’t belong to the enemy. No! This couldn’t be the end. There had to be a way.
“Battle stations,” Tal ordered evenly, with no sign of the desperation they all felt, “K’kadi, disappear Scorpio.”
Scorpio winked out. “Scorpio, into Choya now!” Tal ordered. “No argument, do it!”
Ha! Kass wondered what Fleet made of Scorpio’s disappearance. And she had to admit to surprise of her own when Tegge reluctantly acknowledged her orders with, “Heading for Choya, Captain. Good luck.” Would wonders never cease? Tegge just might be an ally, after all. Not that it really mattered, as in following orders, Scorpio was leaving Astarte to fight alone.
“All Fleet weapons going hot,” Dorn reported, swiftly followed by, “Incoming.”
“Shields up.”
“They’re launching Tau-20s.”
K’kadi steadied Kass as cannon fire hit them from every direction, sending her hard against her harness, taking her breath away. Astarte shuddered, settled, even as alarms sounded, warning lights flashed, and the bridge crew struggled to return to upright. Kass didn’t need to hear shield strength was down to twenty percent to know they couldn’t withstand a second salvo.
She couldn’t ask more of K’kadi or Jagan, of that she was certain, but something had to be done. Now. She was their last chance for a miracle . . . but was it possible?
K’kadi was already doing the impossible, sheltering Scorpio as it made its way through the ring of Fleet ships. Jagan was spent, having given the monster his all. So L’ira Faelle Maedan Orlondami, designated heir to the ParaPrime, was next. Her turn.
But how? She no longer saw the action via the hologlobe, but as if she were part of the great void outside, her vision stretching from the outermost Fleet ship to Choya gate. She pictured Astarte going up and over the enemy, straight to Choya like a bird flying high in Blue Moon’s sky. She shut her eyes, gathered every ounce of power she possessed . . .
“Incoming, all directions.”
Kass heard the warning dimly. Steepling her hands before her face, her spirit soared. She gave her powers free rein.
The result was like a clap of thunder, hitting her hard, rolling over her like a battlecruiser over a single Tau-20. Who was Kass Kiolani to play with the universe?
At Comm, Zee-Zee screamed, Tal fell forward, Dorn yelled, “Fyd!” More screams, shouts. Fear. Were they going down? No time, no time to find out. Hang on, hang on. Do it. Head swirling, Kass fell into the void.
Ka-ass! Tal fought the crushing wave of blackness that stabbed through him as Kass slumped, unconscious, against her harness.
“Captain.” The awe in Dorn’s voice snapped Tal back to himself, but even with his gaze fixed on the shimmering portal straight in front of them, he couldn’t quite take it in. A jumpgate? Choya?
Choya. Omni be praised, she’d done it. Not possible, of course, but here they were. Either this was mass hallucination or Kass had moved Astarte from certain death to the gate to freedom.
Tal snapped back into captain mode. “Med techs to the bridge. K’kadi, where’s Scorpio?”
Scorpio popped into view, hovering at the very edge of the wormhole. Tal had to swallow hard before opening his comm to the other huntership. “Take her in, Tegge. We’ll follow.” The Scorpio winked off the hologlobe displays, this time without K’kadi’s help.
Tal turned to his chief navigation officer, his order hoarse, barely above a whisper. “Mical, take us home.”
Tal sat by Kass’s bed, holding her hand, as she’d once done for him. The doctor assured him Kass was suffering from nothing more than exhaustion, but he’d refused to leave her side. It wasn’t as if he had any pressing duties while they were traveling—with only an occasional wobble—through the wormhole that was leading them home. K’kadi had come and gone, Jagan too. Though the doc had grumbled, Tal allowed the brief visits. The three Psyclids had saved both hunterships and everyone on them, and they shared a bond Tal was only beginning to understand. As much as he might consider Kass his own, he had to acknowledge that K’kadi and Jagan were nearly as anxious about her as he was.
A faint murmur. Kass’s grip tightened on his hand. Tal leaned over the bed, his lips hovering just above hers. “Aye, little witch, come on back. You did it. We’re on our way home.”
Long, black lashes fluttered, stayed open. Two pools of warm, glowing amber stared up at him. “It worked?”
“It did. We’re inside the wormhole, and it’s highly unlikely Fleet will follow us into the unknown, even if they can figure out where we’ve gone.”
“Casualties?”
“Nothing serious. A few broken bones, plenty of bruises. A couple of concussions from flying debris. In fact, you’re the only one left in med.”
“How long?”
Tal glanced at his chrono, “Seven hours, twenty-one minutes.”
Kass made a face. “Good thing it worked the first time, or Fleet would be adding a new debris field to the space charts.” She pounded a fist on the blanket. “Fizzet, I’m such a wimp!”
“Don’t be an idiot!”
“Look at Jagan, look at K’kadi. They can go on for hours.”
“But they can’t move a huntership when it’s surrounded and under fire. Aye, dushenka,” Tal added more gently, “it’s your own version of disappearing a ship.”
Kass pouted. “I can’t make space monsters either.” She blinked. “What did you call me?”
“Dushenka. My people’s midamara, only more so. Literal t
ranslation, ‘little soul,’ but it’s more like saying, ‘darling’ or ‘beloved.’”
“Dushenka.” Kass seemed to savor the word. “I like it.”
“And then there’s dushá minya. You know,” Tal mused, “I think my people must have been strong on soul at one time, or ‘my soul’ wouldn’t be what we murmur to women we love.”
“Keep that singular, Captain.”
Tal laughed. “Agreed, dushá minya.” He dropped a light kiss on her mouth and found her smiling, almost smugly, when he raised his head.
“I like being your soul,” she told him. Suddenly, her eyes went wide. “What happened to Scorpio?”
“I sent her into Choya in front of us. She’s still there.”
Kass glowered. “So Tegge’s for real?”
“She could have blocked our way into Choya, Kass, given Fleet time to catch up. She didn’t. So, yes, I’m afraid you’re going to have to accept her as one of us.”
“You know something, Captain Rigel?” Kass said, “all I really want to know is how soon I can get out of here?” Her eyes added a great deal more. Tal could only hope his anatomy would settle down before the doctor came charging in to examine his newly awakened patient.
How, in the name of Omnovah, had he ever thought he had a full life before he met Kass Kiolani?
Chapter 28
Kass was twelve when her parents took her aboard the royal yacht for the five-hour cruise to Cyros gate, the carefully protected back door to Psyclid, and entrusted her with the coordinates and the key to opening the very private wormhole. But today she would sit quietly at Tac and let Jagan show off. He so loved the thrill of it . . . and she had experienced enough notoriety since their spectacular escape from Fleet to last for months to come. Any progress she’d made toward being treated as just another member of the crew had exploded in a shower of awe. However grateful Astarte’s crew might be, Kass was back to being a Psyclid freak. So let Jagan do it. Flaunting his gifts in Reg faces seemed to give him joy.
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