Dragon Invasion

by Craig Martelle

  On Doomslayer, Captain Tataryn listened and took notes on his datapad. Admiral Gehr had the captain’s chair. His expression became grimmer with every word. When Dante finished, Gehr nodded, then looked to the viewscreen.

  “Captain McNuggen, what’s your assessment?” he asked.

  Coraolis hid his frown. He’d expected to be asked his opinion, at least.

  “I’m not surprised at the show of force, admiral. This ‘nest’ of theirs must hold a lot of strategic value. I sense a bluff. The hostile put on a light show with no substance behind it. No doubt it wanted to scare us off so we wouldn’t engage,” she said. “It didn’t want to provoke a fight by harming one of our people.”

  “Excuse me, captain, but that isn’t at all what it felt like,” Julia broke in. Coraolis shook his head at her, trying to be subtle, and as a result she didn’t see it. “It might have been trying to talk to us. If it had been attacking, I think we would have known. We need to work through what happened. Right now, we’re not capable of processing what it gave us,” she said.

  McNuggen’s lips thinned. She waited until Julia stopped talking, then went on as if no one had spoken. “We need to attack with everything we have before the dragons call in reinforcements.”

  “That’s ridiculous, not to mention impossible,” Dante snapped. He had his fists clenched, which surprised Coraolis. Not that Dante would know right from wrong, but that he’d be so angry on the dragons’ behalf. If he’d forgiven them, he was a better man than Coraolis hoped to be.

  “They aren’t holding a strategic position. They are nesting,” Coraolis said. “They’re at peace. They let us go safely.”

  “Exactly why we need to act now when they don’t expect it,” McNuggen said.

  Admiral Gehr nodded slowly without looking their way. Coraolis had a moment to hope he would listen to reason, but it didn’t last long.

  “Very well. Mystics, your orders are to purge the dragons from this system. Do whatever it takes. I want boots on the ground by oh-six-hundred.” He stood. “Is that clear?”

  “Crystal,” Captain Tataryn said. “Let me know what you need, Mikes. I’ll supply it.”

  “No,” Coraolis said.

  “Excuse me?” Gehr looked at them directly for the first time. “I gave you an order, Mystic.”

  “Right, and I said no,” Coraolis said. “This is an unethical course of action, and I won’t be a part of it. You’re asking us to attack peaceful beings and their young ones. It isn’t going to happen, admiral.”

  “I see.” He looked to Dante. “You feel the same, then?”

  “I do,” Dante said.

  Gehr nodded slowly. “McNuggen? Do you have the cooperation of your Mystics?”

  “She does not,” Julia said loud and clear.

  “Agreed,” Jack said.

  “Very well. Security, detain them. Put them in Doomslayer’s brig.” Gehr raised a questioning eyebrow.

  Coraolis expected resistance from the Fleet when he made his stand, but not getting tossed in the brig. He sighed as a young security guard bound his hands behind his back.

  ***

  The brig was a small room with only one cot. A screen was set into the door to let guards interact with prisoners. The lock was operated by keypad, the door under guard by a young officer. He seemed more interested in his datapad than the cell, but Coraolis couldn’t blame him. They’d been well-behaved prisoners thus far. Cor and Dante had no intention of trying to escape.

  Coraolis expected Gehr to call the Secret Council or defer to Dante’s authority among the Mystics. Instead, E.F. had dumped the four of them in the brig with no further questions and no attempts to talk them around.

  “This doesn’t seem right. If they want us to take out the dragons so badly, why did they give up so fast?” he asked out loud.

  “They must have a Plan B,” Julia said. “I would.”

  “Like what?” Jack asked. “Settle the planet and hope the dragons can’t interfere?”

  “Oh, they can interfere,” Dante said. “She’s right. They’re up to something.”

  “We can’t find anything out while we’re in here.” Coraolis sat on a cot and pulled up his feet. “Julia, let’s see what we can learn. Meditate with me. Dante, Jack, keep watch.”

  “I thought we needed to be outside the metal bulkheads,” Julia said.

  “I don’t want to go into the Astral if we can avoid it. We can shove through these barriers, but it would cost us too much energy. We’re going to try something else.”

  Julia looked doubtful, but she sat on the floor facing Coraolis. He took her hands and closed his eyes. He could sense her power and trust.

  He began the trance-like state with long, slow breaths. After so many years, it didn’t take much, but he waited for Julia. She matched his breathing perfectly. She inhaled as he exhaled. Their breath, their hands, and their minds joined, creating a psychic loop between them. They were in perfect sync.

  He wanted to whoop. He hadn’t been sure it would work with Julia’s implants, but he knew her better than either Dante or Jack. Coraolis and Julia had a bond. It helped with the link and strengthened it. The tension floated out of Julia’s body, and she gave him control.

  “Just follow my lead,” he said softly. “Loan me your strength.”

  “It’s yours,” she said, and he felt the truth in it. His awareness expanded slowly. He sensed the guard playing video games on duty. He ventured to the crew. Everyone was electrified by the excitement of anticipation. It made his palms itch as he went on, balanced between two worlds.

  The ships were in orbit near Ian’s World, keeping a safe distance from the dragon’s nest. Coraolis meant to stop there, but a new presence caught his attention. It had the same feel as a group of Mystics, but cold and inhuman. There was something familiar about it, and when it reached out to him, he knew.

  He broke his connection and dropped Julia’s hands.

  “What was that?” she asked.

  The odds were turning much worse than he’d thought. “They’re bringing reinforcements.” He tried to remain calm. “They’re enhanced humans, but not like Julia. They must be from before Swordfall.”

  “How many, and how far are they?” Dante asked.

  “You know about them?” Coraolis asked.

  “Yes. They asked me to figure out what had gone wrong before, so they could give humans Mystic abilities without losing their personalities. I thought the earlier iterations had been retired. They’re all logic, no heart.” Dante ran his hands through his hair. “They’ll cut down anything that tries to stop them.”

  “There were many of them. They might be three days out, but I don’t know their range. They might be in reach of the nest in one day, or five.”

  “Then we can’t waste any more time,” Dante said. “We need to get out of here.”

  “What do we do?” Jack said. “Ask nicely for the soldiers to let us go?”

  “If we can take over the bridge, we’d have control of the ship’s weapons systems,” Julia said. “The other ships won’t want to fire on us with the admiral on board, not to mention all the other E.F. personnel. They’ll have to listen to us. At worst, it’ll buy us time.”

  “Well then, we have our mission,” Dante said. “All we have to do is open this cell door and walk out.”

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  “Sure, all you have to do is open the door,” Jack quipped. “That’s all.”

  Dante smirked.

  Coraolis liked to see this side of his partner. It was proof he hadn’t lost all his confidence.

  Dante sat on the floor and got into a centering position. Instead of letting his hands rest on his knees, he pressed one of his thumbnails into the palm of his other hand.

  “What are you doing?” Julia asked.

  “I’m opening this door. Get ready to deal with the guard.” Dante twisted his hand, and a bright red drop fell to the floor. His head tilted back, and he went limp.

  Coraolis got up
and went to the door. Julia followed. A point of light appeared suspended outside the door, then drew down, creating a hand-length hole in the air. Its ragged edges leaked green and violet light, but the young man at the security desk didn’t look up. The tear split further, and a shaft of ice-blue light shot from the hole.

  Cor couldn’t see the impact, but he smelled the scorched wires when the energy hit the controls. The door unlocked with a heavy clunk, and he shoved it open.

  Julia darted past him. The guard had barely looked up when she slammed her elbow into his temple. He went down, and she followed up with a strike to the base of his skull. That was that. She shut the door leading to the brig area and locked it.

  Jack came out of the cell with Dante leaning heavily on his shoulders. Dante was completely washed out and shaking with the effort of walking. He collapsed into the guard’s chair and closed his eyes.

  Coraolis had seen Mystics who’d strained their physical bodies to the breaking point. That was what Dante looked like. He needed to rest before they asked more of him. Cor wasn’t sure what Dante had done, but he wanted to talk to him about using the Astral Plane to influence the material world. That was unheard-of for a Mystic.

  Julia rummaged through the guard’s pockets, then through the desk drawers until she came up with a keycard. She glanced up and saw him staring.

  “What?” she asked.

  “I had no idea you were so…” he hesitated, looking for the right word. ‘Violent’ didn’t sound very flattering in his head.

  “Capable?” she suggested.

  “Sure, let’s go with that,” he said.

  She just smiled.

  He checked on the guard. The man was breathing, and a bruise had blossomed across the side of his face. Julia unlocked the weapons locker and passed out devices that looked like black rifles without barrels. Coraolis looked his over, then wished he hadn’t.

  “I don’t think we should use guns,” he said.

  “These are stunners. They’re non-lethal, incapacitate without doing any permanent harm.” She slung her weapon over her shoulder and reached into the locker again and took out a handgun. It was a slug thrower.

  “That looks like a gun,” he said.

  “Yes, but it’s just for me. Better to have it and not need it, right? You can be assured that I won’t accidentally shoot anyone.” Julia paused with the gun and a shoulder holster in her hands. She was waiting for his approval, but he wasn’t sure he could give it. The problem was, he knew that stubborn look, and knew she’d fight him if he ordered her to get rid of it.

  “Take the gun,” Dante said. “She’s the only one of us with training for this kind of thing.”

  Julia’s look of surprise was mixed with a measure of gratitude. She still didn’t move until Coraolis nodded, then she strapped on the holster. It made him nervous—and would to the end—but he trusted her. He thought about telling her so, yet no matter how he phrased it in his mind, telling her he trusted her not to shoot him sounded like he didn’t.

  So, instead he said, “We need a plan.”

  “Is there a way to clear the hallways?” Dante asked. “Can we lock all the doors at once?”

  Julia shook her head. “That would be a huge security risk. You won’t find anything on Doomslayer that could be turned against its crew that easily.”

  “And I’m guessing no one among us is a hacker,” Coraolis said.

  “If you want me to make you look good after this is over,” Jack said, “I’m your man, but the most I can do on a computer is write a story.”

  “First casualty in war is the truth,” Julia remarked.

  “Well then, do good and smart things, and I’ll be telling the truth,” Jack said.

  “I’m hearing that we don’t have a plan,” Coraolis said. He wasn’t surprised. His only combat training was in the Astral Plane. Dante and Jack were in the same boat. “We’ll follow Julia’s lead, then.”

  “What do you think, Jules?” Jack asked.

  “We’re outnumbered, but we’ll be better armed than almost everyone we meet. We stun everyone we come across,” she briefed. “Speed is our friend, so stick with me.”

  “What if they surrender?” Coraolis asked.

  “They won’t have time to surrender, because we’ll be shooting everything that moves,” she reiterated. “We won’t know who’s armed and who isn’t. I don’t want to find out after it’s too late.”

  “I imagine we don’t want to leave anyone able to raise the alarm either,” Coraolis said. That made sense. He could live with that.

  “Exactly.”

  “I can barely hold my head up right now, I’m not taking on extra weight,” Dante said.

  “That’s fine. Jack, can you help him?” Julia asked.

  “You bet.” Jack gave Dante a hand up and slipped his shoulder under Dante’s arm. Dante still looked pale, but he must have caught his second wind. Jack held his stunner in his off hand.

  “Let’s move,” Coraolis said, motioning for Julia to lead the way.

  ***

  Julia and Coraolis walked briskly while Dante and Jack maintained a gentler pace behind them. The slow going kept Dante on his feet. Coraolis held his weapon carefully, imitating Julia, and silently prayed that he wouldn’t zap her by mistake.

  It was late night by local ship time. Anyone not on duty would be sleeping or in the galley. Julia took them the long way around, avoiding Engineering, then switched corridors again to avoid crew quarters.

  She stopped before an intersection of two main passages, the point where one way led to the galley and the other to the bridge. He stopped and leaned against the wall beside Julia. He was winded, unless it was nerves that were squeezing his chest and making it hard to breathe.

  “What is it?” Coraolis whispered.

  She held up one finger and looked him in the eye. He nodded, assuming she wanted him to wait. Then she held up two fingers. When she started to lift a third, he caught on and got his weapon ready. Julia dove into the intersection. She rolled, ending up flat on her stomach as she aimed and fired.

  Coraolis leaned around the corner. People in E.F. uniform were scrambling for cover. One man was already on the floor. Another went down before he could squeeze the trigger. Dante and Jack caught up, panting for breath. Coraolis pulled his trigger, mentally crossing his fingers as he did.

  His shot went wide, but the woman he was aiming at dodged anyway. She landed in Julia’s sights. The woman spasmed as the stunner hit her in the midsection, then she collapsed.

  Coraolis kept shooting. He thought he hit some of what he aimed at, but his best role was keeping them busy so Julia had cover when the crew started firing back.

  They weren’t using stunners, either. A red beam struck the deck just inches from Julia’s face. She pushed herself off the ground and ran for cover. Another shot scorched the corridor wall, and she stumbled the rest of the way. She came to rest on the other side of the corridor and went to her knees. She was protected, but he couldn’t see if she’d been hit.

  “Julia!” Coraolis shouted. He took a step toward her.

  Jack dragged him back. “Do you want to get killed?” he demanded. “She’s fine. Look.”

  Julia sat with her back to the wall. She leaned out to fire, then pulled back. A rain of laser fire streaked past her. Nothing came close to hitting her, but she was pinned down.

  “Some help would be nice!” she shouted.

  “I’ve got this.” Jack moved between Coraolis and the hall. He leaned out, took a shot, then dropped to his knees to shoot again. The retaliating shot went over Jack’s head, and there was a yelp and a thud as another target went down.

  Dante sat on the deck, still catching his breath, too weak to hold up his own arms.

  “This is years of paintball at work.” Jack took another shot, then waited until Julia had gotten their attention again.

  “You might have mentioned that earlier,” Coraolis said. He smiled, trying to sound jovial, but failed.r />
  “I didn’t think it counted.” Jack leaned out, then pulled back. When no one returned fire, he leaned out for a longer look. No one shot at him. That seemed like a good sign. “I think we’re clear.”

  Coraolis sprinted across the open space, hoping a sniping shot didn’t get him. Julia grabbed his hand and he pulled her up. She wavered, and he steadied her with a hand on her waist.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  “I’m good.” She wiped sweat from her brow with the back of her hand. “Come on. We’re almost there.”

  “Where were you hit?”

  “My leg. It hurts, but I’ll live.” She smiled and squeezed his shoulder. “This will all be over soon.”

  “I really hope you’re right.”

  ***

  The rest of the way to the bridge blurred. Julia wanted to run, but her leg couldn’t take the weight. She leaned on Coraolis. He kept her upright and moving.

  When they reached the bridge, two guards stood at the door. They should have been on alert, but they froze when the Mystics lurched around the corner. Four stunning blasts of energy hit the pair, and they fell. Julia scooped up a keycard from one and ran it through a scanner. The bridge door slid open, and they continued inside.

  Tataryn paced the command deck, his face an interesting shade of purple.

  “I don’t care if they’re halfway back to Earth! I want them found!” he was shouting. He noticed the door open and turned. “Before the admiral gets back—”

  “No problem, Cap,” Julia said. She leaned heavily on Cor, but had her handgun aimed at Tataryn. “You found us. Now order your crew to step away from their duty stations.”

  “Ronasuli.” He was gripped by rage, but respected the weapon pointed at him. “You can’t hope to get away with this. You’ve got an entire ship set against you.”