by J. J. Green
She could definitely lend her side a hand.
Parthenia sucked elixir through the tube in her suit and Cast Enthrall on the nearest soldier she was confident wasn’t a Black Dog. The man stopped firing. His arms relaxed and his weapon hung loose in his hands.
She took another drink of elixir and focused on his neighbor, but before she could Cast, her new target noticed the Enthralled soldier. He nudged him with his elbow, and the man raised his rifle and began firing again.
Dammit!
That was the problem with Enthrall: the person affected would obey whatever command they were given. The neighbor must have comm’d the first soldier and told him to shoot. Who he would fire at was unpredictable but he was essentially back in action.
Her next option was to Transport the enemy, but she wasn’t sure where to Transport them to. She could either put them into space or elsewhere on the inter-sector ship. If she put them into space they might not survive until they were picked up—they were wearing armor, not EVA suits. Though she wanted to help, she quailed at the idea of actually killing someone. And Transporting them elsewhere on the ship would mean creating a threat lying in wait for the Black Dogs as they moved through it.
As Parthenia was trying to figure out what to do, more enemy soldiers arrived, racing into the chamber through the right-hand entrance. The pulse fire escalated as the mercs tried to push forward. The atmosphere was bright with constant flashes, but, save for the soft buzz of rounds and the movements of the soldiers, it was oddly quiet. All commands and cries of those hit were confined behind the dark visors of the soldiers’ helmets.
Yet more of the enemy arrived. The mercs were becoming outnumbered. Despite their best efforts, they started to fall.
The front line was being forced back.
If the Black Dogs didn’t gain control of the ship, their plan would fail. They would have to remain in the sector where the Dirksens wanted their blood. Carina would have to abandon her dream of traveling to Earth. Worse, the enemy soldiers could push all the way into the Duchess and take the mercs’ ship. That would be a disaster.
She had to do something.
She had an idea.
The Cast was one she’d rarely practiced, let alone used, but she knew the Character. And if her idea didn’t work, she didn’t think it would cause any harm.
The problem was timing. The damned lag meant she would have to Cast randomly and hope for the best.
She closed her eyes, wrote the Character in her mind, and sent it out.
She opened her eyes.
Nothing seemed to happen.
Disappointment and fear settled on her. She’d thought the Cast would have some effect at least, not nothing at all. And in the short time it had taken her to perform it, more mercs had fallen and the enemy had edged closer.
Then it hit her: she’d waited so long after swallowing elixir that it had probably lost its efficacy.
There was no way to find out except try again.
Brilliant light burst in her vision, and the man she was sheltering near fell sideways onto her. She grunted as his heavy figure impacted her small frame. He’d been hit by a stray pulse round that had made it through to the back line. She pushed him with her shoulder and he managed to straighten up, moving off her.
Parthenia sucked up a mouthful of elixir and swallowed it.
Again, she wrote the Character. Again, she sent it out in the direction of a section of enemy fire.
As she opened her eyes, the Cast hit.
Almost too fast to see, the pulses flashing from the enemy’s rifles hit an invisible barrier. Some appeared to disintegrate and scatter. Others bounced off it.
She’d done it! She’d only known that Repulse could deflect Casts. The idea that it could be used against pulse rounds had been a pure guess, but it had actually worked.
Some rounds had even rebounded at the enemy soldiers. They stopped firing and seemed confused, turning their heads toward each other as if checking they’d all noticed the same thing.
The Black Dogs who had been targeting that section seemed similarly nonplussed. Their firing slackened along with that of their antagonists, but the brief lull was soon over.
Parthenia surveyed the battle, trying to discern the spot where the Black Dogs were pressed the hardest. When she found it, she took a drink of elixir, and then closed her eyes.
She was in the middle of writing the Repulse Character when someone roughly shook her shoulder, startling her.
The Character faded, half-drawn, and she opened her eyes to see a soldier facing her.
“Parthenia,” came Carina’s voice over her comm, “I guessed it might be you who pulled that stunt. Did you Repulse those rounds?”
“Yes, I did,” she replied proudly.
“What the hell are you doing here? Get back to the ship.”
“Huh? No! I’m staying here. I want to help.”
“It’s far too dangerous,” Carina snapped. “This is a battle, for stars’ sake. You could be killed. Go back to our cabin and stay there. That’s an order.”
“You can’t tell me what to do—”
“Just watch me. This isn’t the place for an argument. If you don’t go right now, I’ll order Halliday here to pick you up and carry you back, and that’ll take a valuable soldier away from the battle.”
Parthenia noted her older sister wasn’t threatening to Enthrall her, as she’d done in the past, but she seemed determined to make her leave, despite the fact Parthenia had clearly demonstrated her worth.
“I’m valuable,” she protested, anger building. She was too old to be bossed about, especially by someone only a few years older than her. “You wanted us with you on Ostillon, when—”
“Leave!” Carina yelled. “Now!”
Parthenia was furious. How dare Carina speak to her like that?
But if she knew anything about her sister, once she’d set her mind on something she would follow through, no matter what. If she didn’t go, Carina really would tell someone to manhandle her out of the place, and that would be humiliating beyond belief.
“I hate you!” she exclaimed. “I hate you, and the first chance I get I’m leaving. I’ll go so far away I’ll never have to see your face again!”
She turned and stalked out of the chamber.
Chapter Eight
Carina watched her sister until she disappeared into the Bathsheba’s airlock.
Idiot! Why couldn’t she understand this was no place for a sixteen year old?
When she’d first noticed the weird behavior of the pulse rounds, she’d been as confused and amazed as everyone else. It was only when it occurred to her the pulses appeared to rebound from an unseen barrier that she put two and two together and realized they’d been Repulsed. And as she hadn’t made the Cast, it had to be one of her siblings.
After that, it hadn’t been hard to spot Parthenia’s small figure crouched behind Halliday.
It was a relief that her sister finally left the firefight, but Carina couldn’t deny her idea about using Repulse against weapon fire was brilliant. She hadn’t imagined it could be used in any other way than to deflect attacking Casts.
Now, with Parthenia’s trick up her sleeve, she might be able to turn the tide of the battle.
She returned her attention to the fight. In the brief time it had taken to dismiss her sister, the mercs had lost more ground. Some were wounded and either crawling away from the fighting or being dragged from it by their buddies. A few were motionless and beyond reach.
Yet more soldiers sent by Lomang’s wife were running into the chamber from all its entrances. The woman appeared to be concentrating all her forces on this spot, and it was working: she had them pinned down, but not for long.
Carina comm’d every merc she’d kept back in reserve, sending them all forward into the fight. At the same time, she began to Cast.
Taking large swallows of elixir, she Repulsed one section of enemy weapon fire after another. She found that, after a fe
w tries, she could finesse the angle of the Casts so the pulses flew straight back at their originators. Their antagonists were being hit by their own rounds as well as the mercs’, and they began to fall.
Worse than the onslaught of their own firepower was the confusion and dismay the phenomenon sowed among the troops. As each Cast took effect, the fighters targeted briefly stopped firing as they tried to make sense of what was happening. Then, probably urged by their CO, some resumed their attack, but others appeared to be too shaken to continue or too fearful of their own fire returning to them.
Slowly at first, but then with increasing speed, the mercs began to gain ground. They reached the fallen comrades they’d been forced to abandon and were able to retrieve them while the majority of their force pushed forward.
Carina remained at the rear as she had to concentrate on Casting, which left her vulnerable to attack. But, along with the Black Dogs, she was also able to move out into the chamber. The enemy troops were retreating toward the entrances, leaving behind the incapacitated among them.
She was pleased at the sight of the fallen enemy. If any survived, they would be useful sources of intel.
“Car,” came Atoi’s voice through her comm. “Sitrep.”
She gave the situation report succinctly, not wanting to waste time talking when she still had Casting to do.
“Great,” Atoi replied. “Cadwallader had me guarding the airlock, but it looks like most of the destroyer’s forces have been deployed aboard the Bathsheba. I’m coming over. ETA four minutes.”
The news was welcome. More mercs would be needed for mopping up.
Carina sucked on the tube in her suit for more elixir, but nothing came out. She’d used up her supply.
Shit.
She needed a bigger reservoir—an inexhaustible one, preferably.
But it was clear the mercs had the advantage now anyway. Her Casts were no longer crucial to deciding the battle. From the look of things, it would only be a matter of moments until—
Suddenly, their adversaries broke ranks and ran for the exits.
That was it. Lomang’s wife had ordered a retreat.
Carina gave commands to her troops to chase down the enemy.
Though she was loath to leave her troops during this crucial part of the mission, she decided to return to the Duchess to replenish her supply of elixir. Her ability to Cast could be vital in the clean up operation.
Wounded mercs were lying within the Bathsheba and beyond it on the other side of the Duchess’s docking port. That was no surprise, but she realized with a jolt that the small figure moving among them was Parthenia. Her sister hadn’t gone back to their cabin as ordered. She’d stayed behind to Heal the injured troops.
Carina didn’t feel she had any right to criticize the girl for her decision. As she stepped quickly past her, she squeezed her shoulder through her armor.
Then she raced to the galley, where a tank of elixir was stored.
As soon as she’d refilled her suit’s supply, she dashed to the shared cabin.
“Jace!” she exclaimed as she saw the mage sitting with her siblings. Before he could answer, however, she said, “Could you go to the docking port and help Heal the wounded? Parthenia is already there.”
“Of course,” he replied, rising to his feet.
“We’ll go too,” said Oriana. “Me and Ferne. Right, Ferne?”
“No,” Carina said firmly. “It’s still dangerous there. We only just drove out the soldiers from the destroyer. I want you to stay here with Darius and Nahla.”
“But—”
“No!” she yelled, making the children jump.
Even Jace looked taken aback. But he said gently, “Do what your sister says, kids.”
Carina left the cabin and ran back in the direction of the Bathsheba, leaving Jace to follow at his own pace. She’d already been absent from the fight for several minutes.
Cadwallader comm’d, asking for an update. She filled him in as she ran.
“Good,” he said when she’d finished. “I’m going to join you.”
When she arrived at the chamber in the inter-sector ship, Atoi and ten other mercs, including Bryce, were already there.
“It’s almost ours, but not quite,” she told them. “We’re rooting out the clingers-on. Rather than retreating to their destroyer, they might try to make a stand somewhere and push us back.”
“It’s a damned big ship,” said Atoi, looking upward at the rows of oval, transparent-fronted cubicles that ran around the walls.
“Yeah,” Carina agreed. “It’s going to take hours to search it.”
Cadwallader strode in, armored up. “I’m taking over from here. Atoi, half of your team is to accompany Lin to search the top level. Take the remaining half with you to search the engine service tunnels.”
Atoi’s dark visor hid her features, but Carina could easily imagine the face her friend must have pulled on hearing she’d been given the worst job. Investigating the narrow passages engineers used for physical access to the ship’s engines would be extremely taxing and dangerous. Yet the lieutenant colonel was right to give his most senior, capable, and experienced officer the job. If Lomang’s wife wanted to hit them where it hurt, she would sabotage the Bathsheba’s engines.
“Yes, sir,” Atoi replied, with only a trace of resentment.
She quickly named the mercs who were to accompany Carina.
Bryce was among them.
“Sir,” Carina said to Cadwallader, “don’t forget about the booby traps.”
“I haven’t forgotten,” he replied dryly.
She led her soldiers toward the nearest exit, unsure how to get to the highest level. She guessed there had to be elevators, though the inter-sector ship wasn’t like anything she’d ever encountered.
Chapter Nine
Outside the chamber, beyond the light that spilled through from the Duchess, all was dark. A suggestion to activate her helmet light appeared on Carina’s HUD but she ignored it and told the others to do the same. They could operate on night vision without any great disadvantage and there was no point in advertising their presence to the enemy.
She halted. The wall directly in front of her bore the signs of a firefight. Scorch marks and melted patches revealed that the Black Dogs pursuing their antagonists had met with some resistance. But the fight was over and the passage was empty.
She was about to move on after a cursory look at the damage when something drew her attention. Leaning closer, she peered at one of the scorched areas.
“Hey,” she comm’d her team, “take a look at this and tell me if I’m imagining it.”
As she moved aside, Bryce and another man, Gulay, stepped over to see what she meant.
“Stars,” breathed Gulay. “How is it doing that?”
So she wasn’t going crazy. The mark really was fading at a rapid pace. The melted area was quickly returning to its original state.
“It’s repairing itself,” said Bryce. “I’ve never seen that before. Is that unusual?”
She sometimes forgot that he’d only spent time aboard starships since getting mixed up with her. “As far as I know, it’s unheard of.”
The three other soldiers in the team also examined the blemished surfaces, running their gloved hands over the wall as it changed.
“Okay, let’s go,” Carina ordered.
There would be time to discover the Bathsheba’s interesting features later on, once the ship was secure. Plenty of time. They had a long journey ahead.
She walked quickly along the passage, looking for an elevator or another way to reach the top level. She hadn’t gone more than a few meters when the atmosphere readings in her HUD began to alter, revealing the tell-tale signs of a firefight ahead. She comm’d Cadwallader, telling him about the resistance the Black Dogs had met.
“We’re already on it,” Cadwallader replied. “Continue as ordered, but avoid the engagement.”
She reversed direction to lead her team away from
the fight.
By the time they passed the site of the earlier battle again, the walls were entirely free of damage.
The passage began to curve and slope downward—another feature Carina had never encountered aboard a space vessel. She’d only ever known perfectly horizontal and vertical surfaces, but this slope was like the side of a low hill.
They rounded the curve, and the walls splayed out. In the center of the wider space a tube rose from the floor and disappeared through the ceiling. Double doors opened in the side as they approached.
Assuming it was an elevator, she ordered her team inside, and the men and women crowded in. Six soldiers in full armor and bearing weapons were about all the available space would hold.
The doors closed.
She was relieved to see the elevator operated via buttons on a panel. If it had required voice commands in the strange language she’d seen on the display in the airlock, they would never get it to work.
She pressed the button for the seventh, uppermost level.
A few beats later, the doors opened into darkness.
“I wish someone would figure out how to turn on the lights around here,” Bryce muttered.
They were in a place almost identical to the one they’d just left except it didn’t slope and the elevator sat at a fork in the passage, offering three potential avenues for exploration.
How big was this level? If it spanned the entire ship it would take them hours to search it.
“We’ll continue in pairs,” said Carina. “If you see any signs of the adversary, comm me. Don’t approach them until backup arrives. And,” she added, recalling her own warning to Cadwallader about booby traps, “don’t try to open or activate anything if it doesn’t happen automatically.”
Simply walking around inside the ship could set something off, but Lomang hadn’t mentioned anything like that, and making sure none of the enemy remained aboard took priority.
She split up her team and assigned two pairs a passage each to explore before she realized the only people remaining without a partner were Bryce and herself.
