Cora smiled again. “Oh, yeah. You better have gotten me a cheeseburger, though, or I’m going to thump you good.”
Alister gave a “Meerow!” at the mention of cheeseburgers.
Cora looked over at him, and gave a chuckle. “Hello, Alister. It’s good to see you. Don’t worry, I’ll be sure you get your own burger.”
Alister began to purr unabashedly, to the sisters’ great delight.
Sara was sitting at the table in her room, across from her twin sister, who was stuffing as much cheeseburger into her mouth as she could. Alister was sitting on the table eating a meat patty with nearly the same gusto.
“Careful. Just because you haven’t been breathing air for the last two months doesn’t mean you don’t need it now,” Sara said with a smile, as Cora swallowed down her current bite with minimal chewing.
Cora wore only a bathrobe, not having taken the time to put on clothes after her shower and medical exam. Her bare feet were crossed and swinging like a child’s under her seat.
“Hey—” She coughed on a bit that she hadn’t quite gotten down, and swallowed again. “I haven’t eaten in a while. Don’t tell me to mind my manners,” she retorted, taking another heroic bite.
Sara laughed and slid her untouched burger toward her ravenous sister, who snaked out a hand, and snatched the plate to her side. “Fanks,” she said, blowing a bit of burger onto the table.
Sara laughed, her blue eyes twinkling with mirth. “God, I’ve missed you.”
Cora forced the bite down and gave a toothy grin. “Missed you too, sis. So, how have you and the big guy been getting on? Things good?” she asked, taking a sip of beer before chomping the last of her burger in one go and chewing noisily.
“You’ve been here. Haven’t you seen?” Sara asked, cocking her head to the side.
Cora scrunched up her face in disgust. “Ew, gross. I’m not going to watch you two in here. I have no idea what you get up to.”
“We’re doing pretty great. The whole bonded thing took some getting used to, but when you can’t hide your feelings, communication becomes pretty easy. I can’t say ‘I’m fine’ if he can feel that I’m not. So, it’s the most honest relationship I’ve ever been in,” Sara said, leaning back and taking a sip of her own beer. She squinted her eyes in contemplation. “He’s pretty amazing. The only person I’ve ever trusted this much is you. I didn’t know it could be like this,” she said dreamily.
“Gaack,” Cora said, as she mockingly shoved a finger down her own throat. “Oh, man. You are way further gone than I thought.”
Sara laughed and threw her napkin at Cora. “Shut up. You asked.”
“Yeah, but if I knew it was going to be so syrupy sweet, I wouldn’t have requested dessert,” she said, waggling her eyebrows at the tray of brownies on the kitchenette’s counter.
Sara swung out of her chair and walked over to the counter. Picking up the knife beside the tray, she began to cut oversized brownies.
“Boon and Gonders are getting you a familiar,” she told her sister, redirecting the conversation.
Cora was quiet as she took another bite.
Sara turned her way, and saw that Cora had a bit of a deer-in-the-headlights look as she chewed.
“You knew this was coming. What’s wrong?” she asked, plating the two brownies and placing one next to Cora’s second plate before taking her seat again.
Cora swallowed and took a drink before answering. “I just worry that I won’t be able to adapt quickly enough. We’re set to lead a planetary invasion in five days. What if I have the same troubles you did with Alister?” she asked, looking over at the black cat.
Alister was laying on his side on the table, the burger patty half gone. He didn’t even raise his head at the mention of his name. His distended belly rose and fell with the shallow breaths of one who had eaten so much, there was no more room for air in their lungs.
“It’ll be different for you. We were the first in a long time, and had no one to guide us. But look at Boon; she got the hang of it in just a few days. Hell, she led the assault on the Teifen dreadnought,” Sara said, taking a bite of the gooey chocolate cake.
“Yeah, but she didn’t have the fate of an entire ship to worry about. If she didn’t get the hang of it right off, it wouldn’t mean that the ship couldn’t warp, or defend itself if we were attacked. I just don’t know that it’s worth the risk.”
“There’s no question that it has to happen. There is already a new set of War Mage twins at the UHFC, and they are going to be taking command of the battleship Catagain in the next few days. The fleet is down to a couple dozen ships after the battle with the Teifen. We need every advantage we can get. In the next year, the fleet might be able to get back to where they were before the attack, but that’s a pretty big maybe,” Sara said, leaning back in her chair, and giving Cora a hard look. “We need this, Cora. If it means we don’t participate in the battle for Effrit, then so be it; in the long run, we will be better off as a species if you take this familiar. I can’t fight this battle alone. I need you to come with me.”
Cora gave Sara a half-smile and held up her brownie. “When did you become so forward thinking?”
Sara took a swig of beer. “Probably around the time I was ripping a Teifen carrier in half over the skies of Colony Seven-Eighty-Eight.”
8
Cora sat in Sara’s room, her feet tucked under her on the small couch as she contemplated the next few days and what she should do. She was still in her bathrobe; she wasn’t planning on leaving the room until Sara got done with her shift.
She was biting a nail, and twirling a strand of her fire-engine-red hair around a finger as she stared off into space, when the door chime sounded, jarring her back to the present.
“Come in,” she said, before remembering she was only wearing a robe that came to mid-thigh.
The door slid open, and Grimms stepped in, a smile on his handsome face. He froze when he saw she was not fully dressed. “Oh, should I come back later?” he asked, gesturing to her bare legs.
Cora turned a little red and stood, trying to pull the robe down further, but ended up exposing more of her chest, to her horror. Grimms, to his credit, just turned around to face away from her as the door slid shut in his face.
“Uh, sorry. I kind of forgot I wasn’t dressed. Give me a second, I’ll put something on,” she said, quickly stepping over to the closet and opening it up.
The closet held a large collection of battlesuits and uniforms, but she rummaged in the bottom for a pair of yoga pants and a tank top.
Cora checked on Grimms over her shoulder, saw that he was still looking at the door, and dropped the robe, quickly slipping on the pants and tank top. That’s when she noticed her nipples were poking the thin material in a rather obvious way. She rummaged some more, found a red pullover hoodie, and slipped into that. Judging that she was now properly covered, she turned back to the commander.
“Okay, I’m decent. Sorry about that, Charles. You can turn around.”
He did so, but cautiously, as if worried she was mistaken. “Ah, good to see you walking around, Cora,” he said, his smile flashing behind his meticulously trimmed, white beard.
She gave a laugh, and flopped back down on the couch. “It’s good to be out, but there is a little part of me that misses it,” she said, her eyes going out of focus for a second before she waved a hand to dispel the thought. “I guess I just have to give it a few days; then I’ll be wishing I was out again,” she laughed.
Grimms laughed with her. “I know the feeling. Every time I went on vacation, the only thing I could think about was all the work I had back on base. Then when I was behind the desk, all I could think about was being on vacation again.”
Cora patted the couch beside her. “Have a seat. Was there something you wanted to talk about, or were you just stopping by to say hello?”
He came around the coffee table and sat at the opposite end of the couch. “I was speaking with your sister,
and she mentioned that you were having some trepidation about completing the Familiar spell. I thought maybe talking out your fears with me would help… get an outside perspective, if you will.”
Cora pulled her knees up to her chest, and sat sideways on the couch to face him. The couch was small, so her bare feet were only a few centimeters from his thigh, but he didn’t make a move to put any distance between them.
Cora gave a smile at that, and wiggled her toes before speaking. “I guess I do value your opinion more than most. What would you do in my position? Take the chance and become a War Mage, but potentially lose your magical abilities right before we are supposed to go into battle, or not take the familiar, and let us operate at a disadvantage?”
Grimms glanced down at her wiggling toes—just for a second, but Cora didn’t miss it.
He cleared his throat. “You’re forgetting about option number three: you take the familiar, become a War Mage, and kick serious ass. You can’t think in the negative, Cora. Take it from this old man; you need to take chances sometimes, or you end up regretting not doing so later.”
“You’re not an old man, Charles. You’re fifty. Maybe thirty years ago fifty was old, but with the arrival of the Elif, and the advanced medicine and magic they brought? You’re early middle-age at best,” she said with as warm a smile as she could make.
Charles Grimms rolled his eyes, and Cora nearly fell off the couch in surprise. She had not been expecting that from him; he was always so reserved.
“I’m old enough to be your father, that makes me too old,” he said, looking away from her.
She lifted her left foot, and lightly jabbed him in his tight stomach. He jumped at her prodding.
“You have a six-pack, Chuck,” she teased. “I don’t know any old men who have six-packs.” She put her foot down on the cushion, making sure her toes were touching his thigh, and waited for him to make eye contact. “Old is a state of mind. And I don’t want to regret the decisions I didn’t make.”
Grimms looked at her for a long time before saying, “We’re not talking about you becoming a War Mage anymore, are we?”
Cora shook her head. “I had already decided to go through with it before you got here.”
“Then what are we talking about?” he asked, raising an eyebrow.
Cora’s green eyes sparkled, “I don’t care what we talk about, as long as you don’t leave.”
He stared at her for a long second, at war with himself. “It’s not right, Captain.”
She smiled. “Actually, I checked. There’s nothing in the rules of conduct that explicitly forbids… this.”
Grimms kept his expression neutral. “There isn’t? That seems like an oversight on someone’s part.”
Cora leaned forward, dropping her knees to the side. “From where I’m sitting, it seems like they knew exactly what they were doing.”
He put a hand on her shoulder. “I don’t think we should. We need to keep a professional relationship, for the crew’s sake.”
“Charles, I live in a tank of blue liquid ninety-nine percent of the time. Don’t make me beg.” She held his gaze and bit her lip.
He smiled. “You’re the devil.”
She smiled back. “Only when I need to be.”
Then she leaned in and kissed him on the lips.
9
Boon and Gonders followed Nyx through the large double doors into the pixie council’s chamber in the center of the city. Gonders had yet to close her mouth from the shock of seeing an entire city filled with the fifteen-centimeter-tall pixies, going about their daily routines.
Standing in the center of the chambers and facing the ornate, wooden platforms where the pixie council sat, were two human men. Even from the back, Boon could tell they were identical twins, and the small gray cat and black mongoose at their feet identified them as the War Mages that Nyx had mentioned.
The mage on Boon’s left was speaking as they entered. “Our familiars recommended that we come seek counsel for our future brothers and sisters. The UHFC has twelve sets of twins trying to finish the Familiar spell as we speak, and Niff,” he indicated the gray cat at his feet, “said they would have a much easier time in their transition if we were to come and collect volunteers.”
“Finally, a sensible thought from a Chosen One,” the crotchety councilmember that Boon remembered well from her last visit said. “We will have members of the Keepers find suitable pixies. About time they started pulling their weight.” He leaned to the side, noticing Nyx approaching with the newcomers. “Ah, speaking of the Keepers. Nyx, we need to find some volunteers for these two.”
The twins turned, and Boon saw that the men were older than she would have first guessed—maybe in their mid-thirties. Both had black hair and blue eyes that seemed to glow with an inner light. Each was wearing their military uniform, with the name ‘Rodgers’ over the left breast. They wore matching shocked expressions at the sight of the approaching pair of women.
“Who are you?” the second twin asked, his mongoose turning to regard Silva, draped over Boon’s neck.
At that moment, Boon was happy that she had insisted they not come in military clothing, and hoped she could keep her identity secret, or at least ambiguous. After her conversation with Sara about the UHFC not knowing she was a War Mage, she didn’t want word to get back without Sara knowing.
Shit, I’m going to have to get creative with these two.
“Hello,” she said, approaching them and offering her hand. “My name is Alicia, and this is my friend Isabella.”
The first twin took her hand, and gave it a hard shake, and the second did the same, but with much less force.
“I am Gordon, and this is Reese. We are the new captains of the Catagain,” the first twin said, eyeing the two women suspiciously. “I thought the only other War Mage was Sara Sonders, captain of the Raven.”
Boon put on her most innocent face, and hoped she was better at misdirection than outright lying. “Oh, I wouldn’t know how many other War Mages there are. What’s a Catagain?”
Boon could feel Gonders’ eyes on her back, but their connection told her that she was going to play along, even if she didn’t like it.
Gordon cocked his head. “The Catagain is the newest battleship in the fleet. Are you not in the UHF?”
Boon gave a light laugh, and indicated hers and Gonders’ hiking clothes. “Do we look like we’re soldiers?”
“If you’re not in the military, how did you become a War Mage?” Reese asked.
“Not all mages start in the military,” Boon said, cringing at the weak excuse.
Nyx stepped forward and addressed the twins before they could ask Boon for clarification. “You are seeking volunteers? I can take you to the Hall of Records. Please follow me.” She turned and walked out the doors they had just entered, not waiting for the twins in the least.
Gordon looked at her retreating back, then back at Boon’s smiling face. “We need to talk to you some more. Stay here and wait for us. The UHFC will want to know about you,” he said firmly, before jogging around them to catch up with Nyx.
Boon gave him a really shitty impression of a salute.
When they were gone, she let out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.
“Why don’t you want them to know you are part of their organization?” the silver-haired female pixie on the council asked. Boon couldn’t remember her name.
They stepped closer, and Boon gave a short bow at the waist. Gonders followed suit. “Sara wants to keep me a secret for now. I must admit that I’m not entirely sure why, but she is my captain, and I follow orders.”
The silver-haired female nodded. “If that is what the First Mage wishes, we shall keep it quiet as well,” she said, adjusting her robes. “What brings you here, War Mage? Do you require assistance?”
Boon smiled. “Actually, we need a volunteer, as well, for Cora Sonders—Sara’s sister. And we need to speak to you about the dreadnought,” she added on a whim.
Then, after a moment’s consideration, “And your safety.”
10
“You want us to keep knowledge of the dreadnought from the rest of the War Mages?” the silver-haired pixie clarified. Her severe eyebrow rose ever so slightly.
“If you can, that would be for the best. Sara wishes to study its contents before she is restricted access by our government,” Boon said, realizing that she was saying Sara wanted, in some respects, to betray her leaders.
“We can do this, of course. We will have an Aether meet, and let the populace know the First Mage’s wishes,” another female pixie said, her black hair cut short in a bob.
“An Aether meet?” Boon asked, her face a mask of confusion.
The grumpy councilmember cleared his throat loudly. “Yes. We will have a Moot in the Aether. All pixies will be there, and we can make the announcement. Is there anything else the First Mage would like us to keep from her people?” he asked, somewhat flippantly.
Boon looked at Gonders, who shrugged. Silva climbed to Boon’s shoulder, and put one of her small paws on her Mage’s cheek.
A feeling of needing safety filled Boon’s mind, and she knew what the ferret was trying to say.
“Right, thanks, Silva,” she said with a smile before turning back to the pixie council. “Sara is concerned about the safety of this city, and the pixies in general. If every new War Mage comes here, it will become apparent to the UHFC that there is something here they might want, and they’ll investigate. Even if we can’t talk about the pixies with anyone but a bonded guard, or another War Mage, our actions could be interpreted by our commanders.”
“We have had the same concerns. I propose that during the Aether meet, we begin to funnel War Mages to other cities to speak with the leaders around the globe. We do not want to draw too much attention to this place. We appreciate the First Mage’s concern for our safety,” the silver-haired one said with a slight bow of her head.
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