Space Knight

by Samuel E. Green

  “Nick,” she said. “Sorry, I didn’t realize you’d come in. Were you waiting long?”

  “Not at all. Are you busy?”

  “No, I was finishing up.” She inhaled, and the black mist retreated into her mouth, nose, and eyes like tobacco smoke. One tendril tugged against the siphoning force that urged it into Elle’s left ear, but it was soon sucked into her skull like all the rest. It gave me the feeling the Medusa-link was somehow alive, an organic creature with its own motivations and emotions. Like most non-item magic, it was a total mystery to me.

  “I’ve been swamped with work,” she said.

  “Is that why you didn’t come to the galley yesterday for the briefing?”

  Elle’s mouth dropped. “I’d forgotten all about that. I suppose I’ll have angered the crew even more now.”

  “They didn’t seem to mind you weren’t there,” I said, hoping she wouldn’t take it the wrong way.

  “That’s understandable,” she said with a shrug, and I guessed she was well-accustomed to the poor treatment PCs received from other starship crew members. “Now, I’ve found something that might be of interest to you,” she said.

  “The door inside the armory?”

  “No, not that. At least, that’s not what I was doing when you walked into the room. I’ve been looking at mutations. Specifically, what you did on Deck 5 when you saved the sift . . .” She paused for a moment before correcting herself. “When you saved the enchantress, you teleported instantly. I wondered whether your ability was somehow related to the opening of portals, so I did some research. I believe it is, but I’ve run against somewhat of a wall.”

  “I appreciate you looking into that for me.” Honestly, I was a little creeped out by becoming an object of study. It was exactly the kind of thing I wanted to avoid.

  “But you’d like me to stop,” Elle said with a smile. “I was merely trying to help, Nicholas. I imagine your ability to teleport could lead to some unfortunate mistakes. What happens if you were to suddenly teleport yourself outside the ship?”

  “Yeah, let’s not think about that,” I said with a gulp. “I’ll try my best not to do it again.”

  “How will you control when you--”

  “I’ll be fine,” I interrupted. “Truly.”

  Elle sighed. “So you wanted to know more about the door? That’s why you’re here?”

  I nodded. “I also need a new weapon.”

  “Ha!” Elle almost leaped from her chair with joy. “I knew the enchantress wouldn’t be able to fix your longsword!”

  “Casey’s a nice person. I think you should give her a break. You were the one who called her sifter. She just reacted to it.”

  “I didn’t mean anything by it,” the raven-haired woman said with a shrug. “That’s how we refer to enchanters like her.”

  “Well, you can’t call her a sifter. I’ve only been part of the Stalwart for a few days, but I’ve learned that a ship’s crew sticks together.” I paused for a second as my secret mission came to mind.

  One side of me pulled in the direction of the Stalwart’s crew, but the other side was my honor to my Queen and my kingdom. Beneath it all was Mom. She’d want me to be loyal to the crew while also serving the Queen. I wasn’t sure how I could do both, but I needed to figure out a way.

  I pushed the thought aside for now and continued, “You might be a point clerk, Elle, but you’re also part of this crew. So is Casey. You two need to get along.”

  “Okay, okay,” Elle said. “I promise not to call her sifter again. But I can’t promise to like her.”

  I smiled. “It’s a start. So, do you have a weapon I could buy?”

  “I wish I could give you something since you saved my life and all, but then they would probably find a worse ship to put me on.”

  “You already paid me back by killing that pirate,” I added with a flourish of my hand and a thwip noise to imitate Elle throwing a dagger.

  Elle shrugged, but I could see her tanned skin redden around her neck. “It was nothing.” She coughed delicately and regained her composure. “There are a bunch of weapons in my inventory which the RTF discontinued. You can have one of them.”

  “They won’t explode on me?”

  Elle rolled her eyes. “They’re discontinued because the RTF likes uniformity in their ranks, not because they’ll blow up during use. I purchased them for cheap because it’s well-known that the Stalwart isn’t like most RTF vessels, and they don’t have strict rules concerning what can and can’t be wielded by the crew.”

  “Alright, then. I guess I’ll have to take your word.” I grinned at the point clerk, and I could tell she was trying not to smile back at me. “Want to head to the armory now so you can show me what you have?”

  Zac and Casey might not have wanted me to go to the armory today, but now there was another reason to visit the room.

  “Ah, my equipment isn’t in the armory,” Elle said.

  My shoulders slumped a little with disappointment since I wouldn’t be paying the armory a visit. I’d arouse suspicion if I went there without a reason. Now, I didn’t have one.

  “Where is it?” I asked.

  “I was forced to establish my office elsewhere. Inside the hangar,” she replied.

  I wasn’t accustomed to all the habits of RTF vessels, but I knew point clerks typically worked within a ship’s armory. Elle being moved elsewhere was another thing to add to the list of reasons something weird was happening behind the door in the armory.

  With a flare of her nostrils, Elle stood from her desk. “Will you escort me to the cargo hold?”

  “Sure,” I said with a half-smile. It was a little funny, someone like Elle having to go to the cargo hold to conduct her duties while aboard the ship.

  We took the elevator to Deck 1, and the doors opened to a cone-shaped passageway which broadened as it extended. The first few doors led to quarters for artillerymen, yeomen, and other crew members who weren’t knights, squires, officers, or kingdom officials. The engine rooms lay beyond the living quarters. The massive double-doors at the end of the passageway led to the cargo hold.

  A trio of yeomen passed us. I let Elle walk ahead a little. She wasn’t wearing her coat today so I couldn’t help but notice the way her black pants hugged her ass. Nor could I avoid the smell of her spiced perfume. She paused for a moment, and I almost bumped into her.

  Elle gave me a frown. “Do you have a habit of forgetting your surroundings?”

  “Ha!” I tried to laugh it off, and I guessed she was referring to when I’d let the pirate slip from my sight in the armory. The mistake almost killed me, but bumping into Elle made me feel uncomfortable.

  At least the wry smirk she gave me now suggested she might not have minded me staring at her ass. I wasn’t entirely sure because she kept walking without another word.

  As we approached the end of the passageway, the massive doors opened to the sounds of heavy machinery clanking and the hissing of pistons. Mechanics stained in oil and grease bellowed to each other as they performed maintenance on the Stalwart’s two fighter skiffs and four shuttle crafts.

  When I looked at Elle, I wrestled a fit of laughter. The point clerk looked like she was walking through a garbage dump. Every step was performed with her toes first, as though she was carefully wading through sewage. When a workman yelled across the vast chamber, she almost jumped into my arms.

  It was a big change from the ruthless woman I’d seen drive a sword into the skulls of two pirates. No longer threatened by death, she was the typical haughty noble. I guessed Elle must have somehow gotten over her scruples when she had been confronted by the pirates.

  “Here it is. The place where I’m expected to work.” The point clerk sighed as she stopped between two massive tanks. Despite the disgust on her face, she seemed almost relieved not to be among the mechanics any longer.

  Four tanks sectioned off a part of the hangar, creating a mostly closed-in space filled with metal cabinets. The drawers o
f each cabinet were sealed with RTF runes.

  “It’s not too bad,” I said as I slapped a heavy tank. “At least you can take a nap inside one of these and no one will notice.”

  Elle’s scowl told me she didn’t like my joke. “Let me take a look at your axe.”

  As I heaved the weapon on top of the desk, it felt like it weighed over fifty kilograms.

  I was half-expecting Elle to use the Medusa-link to scan the weapon, but she scanned it with her prot-belt.

  “Durable Two-handed Battle Axe of Rending,” she said. “It is a great weapon. The base attack damage has ranges higher than most of the other Knight class gear in my inventory. Are you sure you want to trade it in?”

  “I don’t really have a choice,” I said. “I’m low on KPs, and I need a weapon.”

  Elle smiled from the corner of her mouth. “Then I’d love to take it off your hands. Do you mind helping me put it into storage?”

  I lifted the weapon above my head and slid it into the storage bin Elle indicated.

  “Wow, you are strong,” she said after I put the weapon away.

  “Part of the training,” I said as I smiled at the dark-haired beauty. I could military press one hundred kilos with each arm, so lifting a heavy two-handed axe over my head wasn’t that big of a deal.

  “I can give you 3000 KPs for the axe,” Elle said as her eyes strayed to my arms.

  I gasped like someone punched me in the stomach. “Really?”

  “It’s a better weapon than you might think. Lots of Arcane Dust can be lifted from the runes.”

  “Alright,” I said with a smile. 3000 KPs for an item I’d looted before I’d even stepped a foot on my assigned vessel was amazing.

  “Great,” she said. “I’ll transfer the balance now and then I’ll show you some of my gear.”

  Elle finalized the transaction on her computer, and my prot-belt showed my new balance.

  Current Kingdom Balance: 5,195

  Total Kingdom Points Earned: 3,000

  I still had the KPs left from when Duke Barnes gave me money, but those didn’t count as income generated from missions. I needed fifty-thousand Kingdom Points to qualify for the knighting, and I was over 5% of the way there already.

  Although it was commonplace for RTF squires and knights to loot portals and exchange the captured equipment with point clerks for KPs, we weren’t going to be clearing portals while on Tachion. I’d need to be careful with how much I spent and take care of my existing equipment.

  “Oh,” I said, remembering I needed something else. “I’ll take a rune repair kit, too.”

  “Sure,” Elle said. “I’ll get it for you now.” The black-haired woman opened a strongbox beside her desk and pulled out a metal case about fifteen centimeters long.

  I took it from her and slipped it into my coat pocket. The runes on equipment required constant maintenance with Dust. The case Elle sold me would contain a very small amount as well as tools to apply the magical substance to dysfunctional runes.

  “As for weapons, I have a few ideas,” the point clerk said as she turned to a cabinet and touched her palm to it. The door unlocked with a click. She pulled out a drawer filled with maces of various shapes and sizes.

  “Do you prefer bludgeoning your enemies to a pulp?” she asked me. “Or cutting them into pieces? Maybe both?”

  I was taken aback again by Elle’s sudden change in behavior. She was speaking of dealing death in such a matter-of-fact manner.

  I grinned at her. “I can go for some bludgeoning. I’ve spent most of my time training with swords, but I’m familiar with all weapons. What do you recommend?”

  Elle’s thin lips twisted into a mischievous smirk. She really was beautiful, but in an entirely different way from Casey. Both women had a cheeky side to their personalities, but Elle’s seemed to also be a little sadistic.

  I found myself wanting to spend more time with her if only to see what other sides of her personality she might be hiding.

  “An elemental mace could work quite nicely,” she said. “Are you familiar with the elemental types?”

  “I know the basic elements; cold, fire, lightning.”

  “Those are just three among many, but you’re right, they are the basic ones. Within the Squire class, I have a mace of each kind.” She handed me a spiked mace with a tip like an overgrown sea urchin.

  I brought up the spiked mace’s information on my prot-belt.

  Weapon type: Morningstar of Incineration

  Additional damage: 25% (fire)

  Power class: Novice

  Weapon effect: Bludgeon - 8% chance to ignore an enemy’s armor and crush bones.

  Runes inscribed: Incinerate

  Rune class: Squire

  Rune effects: Weapon will ignite with flames and deal 15% added burning damage (calculated from base weapon damage). When linked with prot-belt, prot-field degenerates while protecting the wielder from self-damage. Prot-fields degenerates 1% per second while rune is active.

  I closed the statistics holo on my prot-belt. The morningstar was an excellent weapon, but I was a little concerned about the tradeoff. If I were in a fight with the Incinerate rune active and enemy gunfire blaring around me, I’d be burning my prot-field from both ends.

  “Damn, this one is great. Let me see the others before I decide,” I said as I gave the Morningstar of Incineration back to the point clerk.

  Elle raised an eyebrow. “I thought you would want the morningstar immediately. Oh well.” She handed me a flanged mace. “This is a cold element mace.”

  The handle was a little longer than the morningstar, and a golden tassel made from some kind of white animal hair hung from the bottom.

  I scanned the weapon.

  Weapon type: Flanged Mace of Frostbite

  Additional damage: 20% (cold)

  Power class: Squire

  Weapon effect: Predator (human) - 10% additional damage to humans.

  Runes inscribed: Frostbite

  Rune class: Squire

  Rune effects: On activation, the weapon is covered with elemental power (cold). 20% chance to chill enemies on hit (chill slows enemy movement and attack speed by 10%). Shatters enemies on critical hit.

  The mace’s flanges didn’t look too sharp, but I imagined they’d be able to crush a human skull with ease. With the rune effect, the weapon would shatter enemies like ice. I brought up a mental image of plowing through ranks of lizard-men. Then, my imagined enemies morphed from Grendels to human pirates. I stopped the daydream short, not liking the idea of shattering another human. For some reason, killing a Grendel in such a brutal manner felt more palatable to me.

  I put down the Flanged Mace of Frostbite, and Elle passed me another weapon.

  “This one must be the lightning mace, right?” I said as I spun the weapon in my hand. It was shaped like a single-handled sledgehammer with a spike at its tip and a matching spike on the side opposite of the blunted bell-face.

  Elle nodded. “It’s the most powerful of the three, but also the most dangerous. I guess you’ll be wanting something more reliable after your longsword malfunctioned, so maybe you should give it back to me.”

  The raven-haired woman reached for the mace, and I pulled away so she couldn’t grab it.

  “I don’t think so,” I said with a smile as I read the lightning hammer’s stats.

  Weapon type: Hammer of the Lightning Sprite

  Additional damage: 18% (lightning)

  Power class: Squire

  Weapon effect: None

  Runes inscribed: Minor Lightning Sprite

  Rune class: Squire

  Rune effects: Opens minor portal to sprite-zone, summoning a [lightning sprite]. Three-minute cooldown. Five total uses before repair is required.

  [Lightning Sprite]: Remains for sixteen minutes or until killed, whichever occurs first. Deals elemental damage (lightning) to enemies at 150% of summoner’s base weapon damage.

  The hammer was incredibly powerful. And also dang
erous. I could potentially summon a total of five sprites, and for a full minute, they would deal a combined 750% of my weapon damage.

  When I’d examined the gear inside Max’s workshop, I’d thought about the specialist role I might take after I became a full-fledged Space Knight. During my first real battle with the pirates, I’d watched Moses Monroe as a shield knight, Olav Kjeldsen as a berserker knight, and Flanagan Reeves as a herald knight. I’d had a taste of each of the roles, but I still wasn’t sure which one I’d pursue.

  The flame mace could output a lot of damage. The armor negating ability would be useful in the future because higher levels of Grendels wore increasingly stronger armor. I also couldn’t imagine a Grendel Elite maneuvering too well after the weapon crushed its bones.

  The ice mace enabled a different fighting style, one where I’d chill enemies and slow them down. I imagined it’d be handy in a support setting where I could provide crowd control for my fellow knights and squires. I wasn’t opposed to fighting away from the front lines, but there was something exhilarating about combat at the edge of the enemy onslaught. My critical hit levels were also very low, so the shattering ability wouldn’t be much use.

  I also couldn’t imagine many occasions where the Predator effect would be useful since humans weren’t the primary enemies in RTF missions. Although I’d now fought far more humans than I’d have expected in the short time since Tyranus. If the Predator concentration had been for Grendels, I might have given the ice mace more thought.

  But the lightning hammer won me over from the moment I’d read the rune effect. The damage output was nearly unbelievable, and summoning creatures was almost like being a mage. Magic enamored me since I was a kid so this weapon was making my brain sizzle.

  I wasn’t about to enter the Arcane Institute, but a weapon with a magical focus got me thinking about specialist possibilities.

  The navigator, Leith Manzo, had suggested the slayer role to me, but I didn’t know anything about slayers. If they were some kind of special forces, then I could see the lightning hammer’s usefulness in a bind.