Sara frowned. “I do not think I’m better than people because I’m powerful. I was looking for a way to live up to your impossible standards. You push and push, and I try to keep up, but you just keep pushing harder. Eventually a person stumbles when they get pushed too much.” She pounded her fist against her thigh in frustration. “I can fix this. I know what needs to be done now.”
Cora gave a bark of laughter, “You know what to do, huh? What? Just dump all your Aether into the cat? Is that all? You know as well as I do that’s a death sentence.”
“It’s how we finish the summoning. You heard the conversation.”
“There was no conversation. He’s a cat. A very smart cat, I’ll grant, but still a cat. I don't know how this whole thing works, but neither do you. You’re making assumptions on the actions of a cat and the words of a half-remembered passage Dr. Hess gave you. You need to accept the fact that you did something stupid, and its cost is finally catching up to you. You cannot risk your life hours before your ship, filled with people who trust you to get them home, drops out of warp into a potentially hazardous situation, with two broken reactors, and a controller that’s barely keeping it together. This is your moment, Sara. Are you going to take the easy way and potentially leave your crew high and dry, or are you going to do the hard thing and be a fucking captain?”
The anger in Cora's voice cut Sara to her core. She’s right, Sara thought. She’s always god damned right.
She pulled herself up from where she was on the floor to a standing position. She smoothed out her battlesuit and wiped her eyes.
“Come on, Alister. We have a ship to run.” She patted her shoulder, but Alister just stared at her like she was crazy. Sara finally got tired of waiting on him and left the room, heading to the bridge to finish her duty.
Chapter 27
Sara was brooding in her command chair when Ensign Connors broke the silence. “We will be dropping out of warp in thirty seconds, Captain.” The bridge crew was a somber bunch, picking up on her foul mood.
She gave a sigh and sat up straighter. “Thank you, Connors. Cora, please bring up the weapons from standby. Mezner, give me an Aetheric scan of the system as soon as we drop from warp. Keep the power low; we just need to know if we are alone, I don't need the details of their armaments. Let’s not strain Cora too much.”
She got up and stepped into the command ring. Alister came and sat at her feet—not looking up at her, but close enough to provide spellforms if needed.
He had moped the entire rest of the flight, but Sara was not in the mood to console him. Cora had been right, but Sara was convinced that she was also being obstinate to the entire Familiar spell. Had Sara made a mistake in preforming the summoning right before their first commission? Yes, but the potential gains of having a familiar should outweigh the cost. As long as it actually worked.
Sara looked down at the brooding cat, but he refused to make eye contact. She sighed and powered the ring, bringing up the view bubble.
“Five seconds. Four. Three. Engines engaged. One. Warp complete,” Connors said, his face turning to the view screen.
With a flash, they found themselves in a new system. The target planet was close enough to see detail, but far enough away that they had space to maneuver if the enemy was already there. The planet was green and blue, not dissimilar to Earth in that respect, with large bodies of blue water and white clouds floating over green continents.
“Scan complete, Ma’am. We’re alone. No sign of the enemy,” Mezner reported.
“Head to low orbit, Connors, and make sure the troops are ready to move out. Mezner, scan those two moons and see which is better to land on to perform our repairs. We need to be able to hide the ship from enemy scans, so a large cave or crevasse would be perfect.”
The ship started moving at a noticeable clip towards the planet. Sara stepped out of the command ring and took her seat next to Grimms.
“It looks like the larger of the two moons has an extensive cave network we could set down in. The gravity is a quarter g, so we can operate without gravity generators, and the moon still has an active magnetosphere, though it is weak,” Mezner reported, reading from her console.
“Good. Commander, I’m counting on you to get the ship repaired in as timely a manner as possible. I know the capabilities are diminished when I'm not onboard, but between you and Cora, you should be able to fight if necessary. Keep the ship hidden until you know you have the advantage. I’m going down with the troops, and I’m taking the researchers with me. They need to study this core to try and reverse engineer it, and they are going to need my help in handling it. If the Teifen arrive first and the fight looks hopeless, I want you to wait out the battle and run back to the Sol system,” Sara said to Grimms.
He didn't argue, even though she could see he wanted to. “Aye, Ma’am,” was all he said.
“The Elif seem to have put us in a position where that core is needed, and I’m going to make sure my sister has it available to her if it’s the last thing I do. We need to make sure these Elif find a way to reverse engineer the thing before it’s too late. You have the ship, Commander,” she said, standing and giving him a salute.
He stood and returned the salute, moving to the chair she had just emptied.
“Good luck, Captain,” he said, giving her a nod of approval.
Chapter 28
An hour after relinquishing her command of the Raven, Sara gripped a handhold at the back of the first dropship as they plunged towards the broken city that held Colony 788. She was looking over the scans of the colony from her palm projector, while the ship rumbled and shook as it plunged through the atmosphere. Baxter was standing next to her, looking on as they went over the best places to put defenses and reinforcements. Dr. Hess sat nearby, anxious to be on the ground and back with his own people.
Sara was in her full Aether suit, her rifle in its magnetic holster on her back, along with a pistol and combat knife strapped to her thighs—even though she had no clue how to use the knife. Alister was on her shoulder, stuffed back into his battlesuit, but with the helmet detached. The atmosphere on the planet was reported to be extremely Earth-like, even having a gravity of 1.1g.
The colony had set up in an original city of the ancient inhabitants. It was laid out in a perfect circle, with a central, circular park that had four main roads leading into it. Each of these four quadrants were identical in layout, having five circular parks at regular intervals—laid out similar to the pattern of the fifth side of a six-sided die—and a grid of straight roads throughout the quadrant. A high wall made of a mix of stone, alloys, and hardened polymers surrounded the entire city. The colonists were concentrated in various locations, conducting salvage operations of the ancient tech. The buildings were in rubble, for the most part, just from neglect, but there were a few that still stood as monuments of the ancients’ building techniques.
“The main concentration of colonists is here, in the central park area. They have erected a small, temporary city in the open area, but they are also using a few of the buildings still standing in the surrounding blocks,” Baxter said, comparing the map with his arm tablet’s report.
“How many colonists are we talking about?” Sara asked, trying to think of the best strategy to fit with their equipment.
“In total, twenty-six hundred. Only five hundred are part of the defensive force; most of the people down there are scientists or workers. There are three more locations with a concentration of people, but the center has the most with fifteen hundred. They have a network of vehicles that they use to move equipment and people, so we will have those at our disposal if necessary.”
Sara considered this. She was supposed to protect the colonists, but the orders said nothing about what was to happen to their work while they waited for extraction. She assumed they would be packing up, but the Elif were an odd lot when it came to their science. For all she could guess, they would expect to keep working up to the minute a transport came.
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br /> She sighed and decided on the safe route. “Once we get down, we are going to move everyone to this central location. It’s small enough that we can defend it, but should be large enough to hold everyone. Plus, we can use the buildings as shelters, if an attack is imminent. With these roads leading into the center, we should be able to get anywhere in the city quickly. I say we try and stop any advances at the outer wall, and fall back if we need to. We will have enough advanced warning to get to any section where an attack is forming. We can only hope they don't send so many troops that they have multiple fronts attacking different sections of the wall,” Sara said, shaking her head at the map slightly.
“I think we could handle at least two fronts,” Baxter estimated. “The wall is a huge advantage, and even though there are only a thousand total fighting personnel, we could easily hold off a much larger number. Two fronts are not a problem. What we need to worry about is mages. The report didn't mention any in the Elif forces, so we must assume the twelve we have are it. Well, fourteen, including you and me. If the Teifen show up with fifty, we are screwed.”
“They won’t have that many. From what I know about the other races, their mage birthrate is far lower than that of humans. I wouldn't be surprised if there are only a few in their entire force. If we focus on the mages, we should be able to overwhelm them quickly, so long as they stick their heads out.”
The sonic boom of their reentry stopped any further discussion. The ship wheeled around, and in a few seconds, Sara felt the bump of the skids hitting earth. Baxter hit the ramp button, and it slammed down, letting in a chilly wind full of moisture as a heavy rain fell.
Sara stepped down the ramp quickly and noted the other two dropships were opening up, releasing a flow of troopers and equipment. Sara saw three figures on the edge of the clearing they had landed in. She began making her way toward them, with Baxter and Dr. Hess close behind her.
The grasses on this planet were eerily similar to tall plains grasses found on Earth. She looked around and found old growth trees in clumps around the mostly-open central park area. The distance between them and the three approaching figures closed, and she was unable to continue admiring the foliage.
The lead figure, cloaked with a deep hood to keep out the driving rain, went in for an embrace in the Elif custom, but caught himself and extended a hand. “I’m Director Flinst, I oversee this colony, this is Commander Hurnt, he is in charge of our fighting force, and this—”
The director was cut off as Dr. Hess stepped forward. “Silva? Silva Romis? My word, it is you,” he shouted over the rain, and quickly stepped forward, sweeping the tall Elif woman into an embrace that lifted her off her feet.
“Dorin? Dorin Hess,” she laughed as he continued to hug her. “Put me down, you old fool.”
The doctor obliged and turned to Sara and Baxter. “My apologies. This is Dr. Silva Romis. We were great friends at the Science Academy. I haven’t seen her in, what?” he looked at the beautiful Elif and squinted, “A hundred and ten years?”
“Closer to a hundred and thirty.”
“You will have to forgive my chief science officer. This is Dr. Silva Romis, she oversees the research and excavation. And you must be Captain Sonders?” Director Flinst said, getting the conversation back on track.
Sara took the offered hand and shook. “I am. We need to get your people ready to get off planet. Is there somewhere out of the rain we can talk?”
The Director pointed back the way they had come, and Sara could see a large building made from portable construction cubes in the distance.
“This way, Captain. I had the printers make up some coffee, if you are interested,” she offered.
“Sounds wonderful, director. Please, lead the way.”
They found a half dozen Elif inside the temporary building, working away at stations set up on large tables. The director led the way to the back of the structure and into a conference room featuring a large table surrounded by chairs. There was a coffee and tea bar set up on a shelf at one end of the room. Sara and Baxter retracted their helmets, and filled a mug each with coffee. Sara took a sip and almost cringed. Printed coffee never tasted like the real thing, but it was good enough for now.
Alister jumped from her shoulder to the table. He shook the water from himself, making the fur on his head stand on end. Dr. Romis jumped at Alister's sudden appearance; she must not have noticed the cat hunched on Sara's shoulder while they were in the rain.
“Is that a familiar?” Dr. Romis asked, looking to Sara, but it was Dr. Hess that answered.
“It is. I was just as shocked, but she has explained that it is a true familiar. It was proven when she was able to access high level tech due to the increased Aether flow it allows.”
Dr. Romis turned to Dr. Hess, a look of surprise on her face. “What high level tech?”
Dr. Hess smiled and in a conspiratorial tone said, “An intact core. She was able to open the case and extract it by hand.”
This was too much for Dr. Romis, and her jaw hung open in shock. She looked at Sara and noted her red hair with interest.
“We can get to the core in a minute,” Sara said, taking control of the conversation. “First we need to get the defense of the city under control. Commander Hurnt, do you have any defenses set up as of now?”
The commander stepped forward, his Aetheric armor was almost identical to Sara and Baxter’s own, but slimmer to accommodate the tall thin Elif. He brought up a map of the city from a control panel on the side of the table. There were several marks on it. “We have gun emplacements along the outer wall, and a few here in the central park, but the rest of the colony is relatively undefended. We just don't have the manpower to cover an entire city from anything more than a small force. There are vehicles set aside for rapid redeployment, so we can get to hot spots relatively quickly. We were sent here as a last defense, though, so we don't have the resources we should. Most of the true fighters are back in the core systems.”
Sara nodded as Baxter added the details to his own map. She considered the lay of the land. “We have reports that there is a Teifen force coming here, but we don't have a timeline or an estimate for the number of troops they will be sending. We have been assured transports are being sent to pick you up, but they are a few days away—though they should be here before the Teifen. I don't want to take any chances, so we are going to treat this as an invasion. Even if the Teifen don't attack before transports arrive, it will speed things up to have everyone here and ready to go.
“Baxter, get with Commander Hurnt and plan the best strategy. I trust your judgment in this, and put you in charge. Just let me know where you will want me if this all goes to hell,” Sara said, dismissing the sergeant major. He left the room with the commander in tow.
“Now, Director, are your people going to be able to take shelter in any of these buildings if we are attacked? Is there any kind of space large enough to get the civilians out of harm’s way while the fighting happens?”
It was Dr. Romis who answered. “We have found a number of vaults that were actually built for just such an event; most are open and empty. We could get everyone down into a few of them pretty quickly. They don't have power, but there would still be a lot of rock between them and any fighting. Plus, they all have relatively defensible openings. A few soldiers could protect a large number of people.”
“Perfect, thank you, doctor. Director, do you know where these vaults are?”
Director Flinst nodded. “Oh, yes. I’m quite familiar.”
“Excellent. I need you to get some of your people down into those vaults and get them prepared for an extended stay. Have power generators hauled down to provide some lighting and power. Stock as much food as you can. Get with Baxter and have him assign a few troopers to each vault for defense. We may as well act as if this is going to go badly. I would rather leave supplies behind than dead bodies.”
The director nodded. “A good plan. I will see to it that we are ready,” she said,
bowing slightly and making her way out the door, leaving the two doctors behind.
Sara turned to them and took another sip of the awful coffee. They were poking and prodding at an irritated Alister, talking softly to each other. Sara reached out and plucked Alister from the table to save him from the scrutiny of the two scientists.
“Doctors, we need to have a discussion, and I don't want any more half-truths from either one of you. We are here risking our lives for your sakes. Some, like my sister, are risking more than you know. So, we’re going to have a nice little discussion about cores and tanks and ancient civilizations.”
She took a seat at the conference table and motioned for the other two to do the same. “First, I need to tell you that my sister is fighting to maintain the broken components of our warship, the Raven. If my estimations are right, the amount of damage we sustained should not be this hard for her to manage.”
Dr. Hess interrupted. “Why is your sister still connected to the controller’s station? She should just unplug and have the systems manage the problems.”
Sara gave him a deadpan look that spoke volumes. “I agree, Dr. Hess, but she can't quite manage to crawl out of her tank.”
The doctor’s eyes went wide. “There is a tank system on the Raven? But… but… we don't have a working core to manage a system like that.”
“My thoughts exactly. What’s worse is that the High Council didn't see fit to warn us of the potential danger of this system. They didn't even mention a core needing to be installed at a later date. My first officer and I can only assume that the reason the High Council would withhold this information from us is that they thought you would have a working model soon enough, and therefore we were sent to retrieve you. Because of course, of all the places we could have been sent, they send us to a planet where the only known intact core was being excavated? The coincidence is far too great.
War Mage Chronicles- Part One Page 17