A solid plan. The man was a great partner.
She latched on to the strongest signal and began the tedious task of retracing the signal’s path. Getting to the alien craft was the easy part. The ray beamed from an energized protrusion on the side of the massive craft. But the unit was shielded. She couldn’t sever any of the wires or disable its switches. Something surrounded the controls, something with the feel of sorcery. Did the aliens have spell-casters of their own?
“Carlos, do you feel the magic?”
“Yes. I can’t get through the shielding to the signal.”
Beyond the ship’s hull, Morgan followed wires looking for any weakness in the system she could exploit to deactivate the signal. She couldn’t find anything. “Could they have known we’d try to use our magic?”
Carlos’s facial features reflected his tension and strain. “Magic is universal. They may have encountered it on other planets they’ve attacked, and built the defense into their system. We know so little about them.”
Through the windshield in the cockpit, Morgan noted a large doorway opening on the side of the alien vessel. The Xi-1 was headed right toward it, closing fast. “They’re pulling us in.”
~ ~ ~
Morgause loaded the last of the medical supplies into the Bell UH-1Y Venom. Mary Cullen and Dr. Logan were strapped into their seats. It was time to take off.
We’re leaving now. How’s everything going out there? She sent to Morgan and Morgana.
Don’t. There was panic in Morgan’s mind-voice. Tell the Air Force to call off their attack. The aliens have technology that can take over our aircraft. The Xi-1 is being pulled—
Her voice cut off mid-sentence.
Morgan?
Nothing.
Aaron came running up from behind. “We’ve lost contact with the Xi-1.”
Motioning Mary and Dr. Logan out of the helicopter, she turned toward Aaron. “And I just lost contact with Morgan and Morgana.”
She relayed Morgan’s last message. “What do we do now?”
Aaron paced. “We . . . I . . . I don’t know.”
Chapter 26
The huge hanger door closed with a resounding clang as the Xi-1 settled to the deck and depowered. Paul stood by the exit door ready for the order to deplane.
Shade approached. “Maybe I should go first.”
Paul shook his head. “That’s not procedure, sir.”
Protocol called for Pike’s Rangers to exit first and secure the site before Xi Force hit the field. The fact they were now on an alien vessel in outer space didn’t change anything. The Rangers were expendable. Earth had too few superheroes, especially now. Risk to them needed to be minimized.
“Paul.” Shade knew what he was asking.
“Let us do our part, sir.”
Shade’s mouth tightened, but he nodded.
Paul activated the control to open the hatch door and slide out the exit ramp. Pulling his Magnum from its holster, he waved his men forward.
His breath clouded in the chill of the hanger. An oily denseness in the air made breathing difficult. A deathly silence filled the chamber.
Paul pulled the compact oxygen mask from his belt and slipped it over his nose and mouth. He signaled his men to do the same. No telling what was in the air here.
Nothing moved in the viewable area beyond the end of the exit ramp but that didn’t mean the enemy wasn’t lurking. The aliens certainly knew Xi Force was here.
The ten rangers with him hit the bottom of the ramp and took up positions around the Xi-1, using the jet’s big wheels as cover as they scanned the area for danger.
“Nothing,” Tex reported over coms.
Strange-looking electronic equipment, large metallic drums, and hoses lined the walls of the vast chamber leaving fifty feet open between the craft and the walls all around the jet. Besides the large garage-type door they’d flown in through, only one exit was obvious.
The doorway was hexagonal and stood open to a hallway stretching as far as the eye could see. Shadows wavered, possibly movement, on the fringe of the viewing distance. Paul pulled a compact set of binoculars from his utility belt, but still couldn’t make out exactly what he was seeing in the distance down the hallway.
The Sha’Xari ship was huge, probably miles across. Still, he wondered where the aliens were and why this section seemed to be uninhabited.
Shade, Phaze, John Wylde, and Z-Bot came up to where he stood by the front wheel of the Xi-1.
“Their networking is strange,” Z-Bot said. “There appears to be some kind of Wi-Fi available, but I haven’t been able to hack in. If I had Kirk . . .”
Z-Bot and Shade usually had a link to Kirk Peters and the big Cray supercomputer. They’d lost all communication with the ground. Up here they were on their own.
Shade pointed toward the doorway. “That appears to be our only exit. Let’s see where it goes.”
Paul signaled to Tex, Steve, and Red to follow, then moved out from the cover of the wheel. The other Rangers would stay to guard the plane.
Shade pulled him back. “Deplaning protocols have been satisfied.”
Nodding, Paul stood aside and let Shade, Phaze, Wylde, and Z-Bot lead. Yes, he was overprotective of the supers. That was part of his job. The assignment had been given to him by Jason Pike when he’d been appointed second in command of Pike’s Rangers.
“There will always be more soldiers. Who knows how many supers we’ll be blessed with,” Jason had said. “Take the bullet, even if it would have bounced off one them. Minimize as much risk to them as they will allow you.”
After Jason died, Paul continued that tradition. Each Ranger got the speech when he joined. Take the bullet.
Shade, as the Xi Force field commander saw things differently. He continually threw his body in front of the Ranger’s supporting him. Yes, he was bullet-proof and tough as nails. He’d also died. Twice. Paul was determined to prevent a third if it was at all in his power to do so.
He had to let Shade, Wylde, and Z-Bot take the lead now, but that wouldn’t keep him from looking for his opportunities. He would gladly take the bullet anytime for one of them.
Phaze stepped into a position behind Shade. Paul strode up beside her.
“You might as well give in,” she said under her breath to Paul. “I did, months ago. He’s determined, if a little over-protective of us.”
With their titanium subdermal armoring, Shade and Z-Bot offered up a thick wall of defense and usually went first into any situation. Wylde seemed able to heal just about any wound in minutes, and was ornery enough to ignore the gesture when Shade motioned him behind. “If I’m supposed to get shot in this chapter, I will get shot in this chapter no matter where I start out.”
In Phaze’s case, bullets would pass through her when she went intangible, and her costume was bulletproof as well. But Phaze was Shade’s wife. If he was a little over-protective of her, Paul couldn’t fault him.
Still, the rangers now had bullet-proof protection of their own. Mary’s exo-armor had been produced and handed out for this mission. It would be a little easier now to step up and take that bullet, though in this case it would be a blaster beam and they had no idea how well the new suits would protect against that.
About ten feet from the doorway, Shade, Wylde, and Z-Bot stopped, jolting as if they’d struck something.
Shade placed his hand, fingers splayed, in front of him. “An invisible wall?”
Paul came up beside him with his hand outstretched. Sure enough he encountered resistance. Smooth, warmer than the air around it, and with a slight vibration running through it. Clear as glass but with no sheen, it didn’t even smudge where he’d placed his hand.
“Certainly not natural,” Shade said. “Phaze?”
Phaze
could walk through walls. This shouldn’t stop her. But Paul could sense Shade’s reluctance to send her through alone. That was her job, and one she’d done well in the past. In this case, he’d have to step aside and let her go it alone.
“I’ll see what I can do to disable this,” she said, going intangible.
Still, when she reached the invisible wall, she stopped short.
“I can’t get through. I’ve never had this happen before. I can’t even drop into the floor.”
Shade shrugged. “We’d better get El Brujo and Morgan to look at this. It might be magic.”
~ ~ ~
A dark aura sheathed the clear wall like a dusky fog when Morgan shifted her sight to eyes that saw. She placed her hand against the unyielding surface and sent her awareness into the substance. “What is this?”
“It appears to be dense dimensional matter,” El Brujo said. “I’ve never seen it used this way before. The concept is ingenious.”
“Any way through?” Shade asked.
“No, there isn’t.”
The voice came from the other side of the wall. Feminine, familiar.
Morgan’s heart sank when Guinevere stepped through the doorway.
“Thought you were rid of me, did you?” The Fae Queen smirked.
“Javasad?” Morgan called. If Guinevere was here, then the debt was not paid. The celestial being had to return, didn’t it?
There was no answer.
“Javasad was a fool. I have a few credits of my own on the Book of Eons, and I called them all due. The battle for Earth was fought on the other side of the galaxy . . . and Earth lost. When I preside over the public executions of Earth’s strongest defenders, all resistance on the planet will crumble.” Her eyes alight with mirth, Guinevere expelled a deep-throated laugh, turned, and left the chamber.
Chapter 27
Morgan. Morgana.
Morgause sent another plea to her sisters to respond, but received only silence in return. “I can’t reach them.”
But she’d know if they were dead, so she held on to that little grain of hope.
She sat at the sparsely populated conference table in the Xi Force ready room. Dr. Logan, Olivia Diego, Mary Cullen, and Jimmy occupied the other seats.
Kirk sat at the Cray workstation and Aaron, as usual, paced.
The chamber door opened and Dove Locklear entered dressed in her Quantum costume, Piotr trotting at her side. She hobbled toward the table and took a seat. “Sorry I’m late.”
“You should be in bed.” Dr. Logan said.
Dove’s jaw tightened. “And John should be here, not up there. Sometimes we don’t have a choice.”
The bulk of Pike’s Rangers were on patrol in Megopolis. Leaderless, they’d been assigned to the military commanders in charge there. So with the exception of the few remaining guards, this was all that was left of Xi Force.
Quantum had awesome powers to manipulate molecules at the atomic level. She could fly and shoot explosive particle beams from her fists. But in her current state of health, could she even function in combat? Together with Mary and Jimmy’s untrained wolf-woman form and Morgause’s next to useless healing powers, they made up a pretty weak super team.
Dr. Logan and Kirk were super in their fields, but their skills didn’t transfer well to combat. Hopefully Aaron, a trained CIA operative, had a plan.
“What are our options?” Aaron asked. “Do we have any?”
Okay, maybe he didn’t have a plan.
Dr. Logan huffed. “The president was considering a nuclear missile strike on the ship until every missile silo stopped functioning.”
Kirk spun in his chair to face the table. “They’re toying with us. Trying to undermine our morale before they attack. Because so much of our technology is based on what was found in that ship downstairs, the Sha’Xari know exactly how to override all our systems. We’re sitting ducks here.”
Aaron stopped his pacing long enough to raise his fists. “And we have no way to get up there to stop them.”
The Air Force strike sent against the Sha’Xari mothership had been a disaster. Weapons malfunctioned. Planes began attacking each other, all on their own. Others lost power and plummeted to Earth. Most of the planes that managed to return to base wouldn’t be taking off again anytime soon.
“NASA says it would take weeks to get a shuttle ready for launch,” Dr. Logan added. “And I doubt it would do us any good anyway.”
A long silence permeated the chamber until Olivia thumped her fist on the table. “No, we have a way up there. That ship downstairs. I can fly it. It’s one of their ships, so they might not even notice us slipping in. They have smaller ships coming and going from the mothership all the time now. Maybe we could sneak onboard.”
Energy suddenly crackled in the room.
“I’m in,” Morgause said. If there was any chance they could save her sisters, Paul, and the others, she was more than in.
Kirk stood. “I’ve figured out how to hook a laptop into the input port of one of the weaponry consoles. If we can get close enough, I might be able to hack into their network and get us access codes to open one of the bay doors on the ship.”
“You get me on that mothership, and I will tear it apart,” Quantom added.
There were a lot of ifs implied in those statements, but the idea seemed to have merit.
Aaron shook his head. “Well, I don’t have any better idea. Sometimes a small, tactical unit can accomplish more than a whole Army battalion. Let’s do this, people.”
It looked like Xi Force was sending in the B team.
~ ~ ~
“A rift?” Morgana cocked her head at Morgan and Carlos. “I don’t know anything about magic. How can I make a rift in this . . . what did you call it? Dimensional matter?”
This was so far outside her knowledge, she didn’t know where to begin to try and assimilate it.
Morgan, hands on hips, leveled her gaze. “You simply have to strike when and where I tell you. We just need your strength and Fragarach. Carlos and I will do the rest.”
Morgan returned to the energy wall, placing her hand on the invisible surface. Her hand glowed red. “Carlos?”
El Brujo shook his head. “I’m too far from my sources. Too high above Earth. My magic is weak. But you have the power in you. Try a Kilorai anziz and if that doesn’t work use Pwilfri. I’ll talk you through the castings.
God, it was like they were speaking a foreign language. Well, in a way they were. Morgause would understand it all once she recombined into Maggie. If they ever got the chance to recombine. With Morgause on Earth, they were trapped in their separate aspects. They’d tried recombining and for some reason couldn’t reach her. This shield was blocking more than the physical.
As Morgan and Carlos continued to talk gibberish, Morgana turned her attention to Paul. His pacing path had him on a collision course with Shade. They were so lost in their thoughts they actually did bump before stopping.
“Sorry,” they both said at the same time before pulling back and taking new paths.
Morgana would have loved one more kiss, a hug, anything before attempting whatever Morgan and El Brujo were brewing up. There was no doubt it was dangerous.
But there was no room for sentiment, comfort, or emotion on this mission.
Or was there? Hell, kissing would be better than waiting, or pacing. And if this was going to be as dangerous as she thought, she might not get another chance.
If you’re thinking what I’m thinking, go. Morgan’s mind-whisper confirmed her conviction.
“Call me when you’re ready,” she said and headed toward Paul.
She grasped his hand and pulled him toward the Xi-1. “Come with me.”
She dragged him up the walkway, into the plane.
Birdy sat in the cockpit, twiddling his thumbs.
“Out,” she said, jerking her thumb toward the cockpit doorway.
He scrambled up and out.
Morgana closed the door.
Paul’s eyes narrowed as she captured his gaze. “What?”
“I love you.” There she’d said it. Why hadn’t she said it before? “Morgan loves you, Morgause loves you, and especially Maggie. She really loves you. All of us . . . all of me loves you.”
This was all so complicated, yet so simple. She loved him. She needed him.
A soft smile played across his lips. “I know.”
She threw herself into his arms. Her lips closed on his.
The dangers of their occupations meant they might not have tomorrow. The only thing they had for sure was right now, and she was determined to make the most of it, get the most of him to take with her.
She wasn’t exactly sure where she was going. Morgan knew more. Danger was certainly part of whatever journey she was about to take. But wasn’t staying here just as perilous? In any case, she didn’t want to leave him without this to take with her.
Paul pulled her in tight, his mouth so passionately warm against hers, as his tongue plundered and ravished.
They were both breathing hard when they finally separated.
“I love you so much,” he said.
The sensual promise in his eyes filled her heart with warmth and the courage to press on.
~ ~ ~
“Okay.” Morgan took a deep breath. Even with the best timings, that chance of opening the rift for more than a few seconds was infinitesimal.
Morgana, we’re ready. Did you tell him? She’d damn well better have. She needed Paul to know, in case this whole thing backfired. She’d been a fool to withhold the words.
Yes. Morgana and Paul hurried down the exit ramp of the Xi-1.
Paul, slightly glassy-eyed, appeared well and thoroughly kissed.
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