The sound of a book page turning made her aware that she was not alone in the room, and she turned her head to the side to see Baxter, dressed in a tee-shirt and athletic pants, sitting on her couch and reading a book by the light of a small lamp on the side table.
He was so engrossed in the book that he didn't seem to have noticed she was awake.
She watched as he turned another page and took a sip of something hot from a mug.
The entire image was so contrary to everything he presented about himself; except that it was exactly who he was.
Alister lifted his head and saw that she was awake, then stood and stretched all four legs and his back as he walked to the edge of the bed and hopped down to the floor. Sara watched him trot over to Baxter and hop up onto the couch to curl up next to the big man. Baxter gave him a distracted pet, then turned the next page.
Sara was overwhelmed with a feeling of rightness.
She carefully slipped her feet from under the covers and sat up on the edge of the small bed. She was in a tee-shirt and a pair of shorts that she didn't remember changing into; if she were honest, she didn't care who had done it, just grateful that they had. She stood and quietly walked to the couch, dragging the blanket behind her.
Baxter looked up from the book. “You’re up,” he said, starting to put the book down.
“Don’t. Stay right there, I’m coming in.” She knelt down on the couch beside him, relocating Alister onto his lap. Then she pulled the blanket over herself and snuggled into his side.
“Do you want to know what happened?” Baxter asked, looking over at her as she rested her head on his shoulder.
“The fact that you’re sitting here reading a book while I sleep is all the information I need,” she said, closing her eyes and breathing in his soapy smell.
He didn't say anything, only patted her cheek affectionately before settling back in.
She was almost asleep again when she heard him turn the next page. Then she truly was asleep.
Isabella Gonders was standing in Alicia’s new cabin, waiting for her to finish getting ready in the small bathroom.
The cabin had been assigned when Alicia’s status as a War Mage became known to the rest of the ship. Captain Cora had said it was ‘proper’ for a ‘resource like Boon’ to have some privacy, plus there was a ferret to consider.
Isabella didn't mind at all; it gave them a place to be together without bunkmates getting in their business.
Alicia had told her they were going out for drinks—even if the drinks were non-alcoholic until they got back to Earth—so she had found something nice to wear. To the shock and awe of everyone she had passed on the way there, it turned out that Gonders owned a few dresses. She even had shoes that weren’t boots. The dress and shoes were both black, though; she wasn’t crazy.
“I hope you like it,” Alicia said, nervously opening the bathroom door and stepping out. She was wearing the blue dress Sara had gotten for her.
Gonders’ eyes widened. “You look beautiful.”
Alicia’s face flushed. “Thanks. Oh, you look amazing,” she said, looking up and seeing Gonders for the first time.
It was the specialist’s turn to flush. “Thanks. You ready?” she asked, holding out her hand.
Alicia took her hand and squeezed it. “You bet.” She leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek.
They headed out into the hall, toward the cafeteria and dinner, both of them smiling so brightly, they could blind an unprepared onlooker.
Grimms took a sip of coffee, and looked over the report, his brows furrowed.
“It’s not that bad,” Cora said.
“It’s not good,” he retorted.
“No. No, it’s not good, but at least we were able to rescue the empress. And fifty-three high nobles. They can rebuild with that.”
Grimms took another sip, laying the tablet down on the ready room’s desk. “There are only twenty-seven battleworthy ships left in the fleet. The rest either need to be overhauled completely, or scrapped. It’s going to take a year to get back to what we had, and even that was barely enough to defend from an already damaged armada. Next time, they could send a thousand, or ten thousand ships. We need help. The Elif are broken, the Galvox know humans exist again, and the Teifen are actively hunting for us. Unless we get a miracle, I don't see how Earth will survive.”
“We’re not the only humans out here. What about the second dreadnought that humanity sent out at the end of the last war? We could always go and find them. Maybe they’ve gotten by better than we have on Earth?” Cora suggested.
Grimms thought about that. “They may not be anything like us, or want to help us, but it’s worth a shot. I’ll include the idea in my report when we arrive.” He paused, considering what he needed to say next. “Captain, the real question is… what are we going to do about Sara?”
“What do you mean?”
“I mean she attacked the Elif embassy; there are going to be repercussions. No one is above the law,” he admonished.
Cora was silent for a while.
“The more I look at the histories on this core, and see how the galaxy worked in the old days before the war,” she began, “the more I think she just might be.”
“You think she’s above the law?” he asked, flabbergasted.
“According to the core,” Cora said, her voice full of concern, “she is the law.”
Chapter 1
"It's empty," Mezner said, tucking a lock of blonde hair behind her ear.
"What do you mean ‘it's empty’? I can see cities from here," Sara said, zooming in the projection of the planet’s surface to show a continent dotted with modern cities.
They had warped into the system an hour and a half ago, and this was the second planet they had visited. The first, while able to support life, only had single-celled organisms teeming in its vast, yellow oceans.
"I'm seeing the cities, ma'am. But there's no one in them. It looks like they've been abandoned for quite some time, if these readings are right," Mezner said, her fingers dancing over the controls of her station.
"How are the cities still standing, then? If they were abandoned, wouldn't they be grown over?" Sara asked.
"Not necessarily, ma'am,” Connors spoke up. He was looking at the reading along with everyone else. "I'm getting some odd power signatures, but nothing on the scale of a civilization. However, some of the signatures appear to be moving. It could be that the cities are being maintained by a robotic workforce."
"I'm seeing the movement as well, ma'am," Mezner confirmed.
"Okay, if there's no more people, what happened? I need ideas here," Sara said, pacing back and forth.
"It could be that they had to run again," Grimms said from across the projection table.
"Maybe they died off from a disease?" Connors suggested.
"Unlikely," Mezner dismissed. "If it were a disease, there would be some survivors. Even the black plague was only seventy percent successful. I'm seeing no signs of life whatsoever beyond plants and small animals. Not to mention there are no radio signals or Aether bursts coming from the surface. Even if there were only a few humans, we would see something—especially with a society as advanced as this one would have to be to build these cities."
"Mezner’s right," Grimms said. "I don't think it's a disease. Are you seeing any signs of ships on the ground or in orbit?"
Mezner focused on her console for a few seconds before answering, "No, sir. I'm not reading any reactors of any kind. I am seeing a few small things that could be ships in orbit, but more than likely, they're just small asteroids or moons. Asteroid farming would be in-line for a society this advanced."
"Then Grimms is right, they must have run. But from what? Did the Teifen find them here?" Sara asked, petting Alister with an absent-minded hand when he jumped up on the projection table.
He pushed into her hand with his eyes closed and began to purr.
"I don't think so. If it were the Teifen, the
y would have left people on the surface. This planet is far too valuable in terms of resources and placement to leave it empty," Grimms said, looking over the data.
"It's a little far from their empire," Sara mused.
"True, but it would give them a wonderful base to attack the Elif from behind," Mezner said.
Grimms nodded, "She's right, the Teifen are not known for giving up an advantage, and this planet would definitely give them that. Are we seeing any signs of battle anywhere?"
Mezner scanned the surface a few times in different spectrums before finding what she was looking for. Her eyes lit up as she answered, "Yes, sir. I missed it at first because I was only scanning for life forms, but there is indication of some irradiated fallout. However, it's quite old, and well within habitable ranges. It could indicate nuclear weapons, detonated hundreds of thousands of years ago."
"That's what I thought. Captain, we should send somebody down there to take a closer look," Grimms said.
Sara bit her lip, thinking about their directive, and wondering if she should take any risks that were not plainly spelled out. Alister sat on the table and cocked his head at her, confused by her sudden need to follow the rules.
Sara grimaced, "Don't look at me like that, you know how much trouble we got in."
Grimms smiled over at his captain. "I'm sorry, I wasn't thinking. We should follow orders on this one."
Sara waved a hand at him. "It's all right. We really do need to know what happened here, especially if we're going to try to seek out the ancient humans for help."
Cora spoke up at that. "Sara, we don't even know that they're going to help us. For all we know, they ended up killing themselves in some sort of war, or war was brought upon them. Either way, we can't spend too long out here. The attack on Effrit to take back the Elif home world is being planned as we speak; we can't embroil ourselves in too long of a search."
Sara considered that, then looked to Mezner. "I want a scan of the entire system; I don't care how long it takes. I need detailed information on every celestial body in the solar system. Let me know when you're done. I'll be in my room. Grimms, you have the bridge."
"We may want to consider retrieving one of those robots. They could hold some information, and the UHFC will want one for study," Grimms said, as she turned to go.
"You're right. Have a Marine detachment go down and get one, but make sure they come right back. We need to get out of here as soon as the UHFC calls. I don't want to piss them off any more by being late."
Grimms gave a sharp salute, then turned back to the holo-projection and began zooming in on various cities.
Sara stepped off the bridge, and Alister jumped on her shoulder as she began heading toward her rooms. After a moment’s consideration, she opened a comm channel to Boon; after further consideration, she closed it, and opened a new channel for Baxter.
"Are you busy, big boy?" she said with a smile.
It took a second for her bonded guard to respond, but when he did, she could hear the smile in his voice. "Not particularly. Did you have something in mind?"
Sara blew out a frustrated breath, not able to keep up the charade. "I just really need to talk. I feel a little lost, and a few words of guidance would help."
"I'll be there in three minutes," Baxter said, all amusement gone from his voice.
"I'll have a drink waiting for you," Sara said, opening the door to her room.
"You know I'm still on duty, right?"
"Fuck."
Chapter 2
Silva spun in a circle before finally settling down on the bed in a tight ball, to Boon's great annoyance.
"Will you calm down? You've been agitated all day. What's going on with you?" Boon asked, looking up from her tablet. She had settled in for the night and was wearing a pair of pajamas that Gonders had said, jokingly, made her look like a child, but Boon didn't give a crap; they were comfortable.
Silva chattered at her, and sent a spike of irritation through their bond. Boon put her hand up defensively. "Okay, okay. Sorry I asked."
She turned back to the tablet, and began reading again. Gonders had given her several texts on the art of war and fighting, saying that she would be tested later. This warning was accompanied by a suggestive wink, which confused Boon a little.
Her performance on the dreadnought, while powerful and able to turn the tide, had been lackluster, and she needed to work on her tactical thinking.
She would be a lot further along if the text wasn’t so damn boring.
How can reading about the most creative ways to kill someone want to put me to sleep? I think I would rather hit my head on the wall over and over, just to see if it knocks something loose, than read another word of this.
Silva fidgeted again, which made Boon want to scream, which made the ferret even more agitated. That's when it hit her. Silva wasn't agitated; she was, and her agitation was being projected onto her familiar.
She reached over and gave the pixie a soft pat. "Sorry, I just realized what was happening. I'll try and calm down. It's just the stupid texts are boring me out of my mind. Who knew it took so much knowledge to blast people out of their boots?"
Silva opened an eye, and somehow got across, ‘I thought everyone knew that’ with just a glance.
Boon raised an eyebrow. "Okay, I guess everyone but me."
The door to her small room slid open, and Sara stuck her head in. "You busy in here? I was wondering if you could join me and Baxter in my room."
Boon powered off the tablet and tossed it on the bed in one quick move, making Silva jump out of the way. "Hell yes. I'm free," she said, jumping to her feet.
Silva chattered at her, then leapt onto her shoulder and chattered again in her ear.
Boon leaned her face away from the animated ferret, and held up a hand. "I can get back to it when the captain's done with me. It's not like we’re on a super crazy time crunch here."
"I'm sorry, did I interrupt something?" Sara asked, confusion in her eyes.
"No, no. I was just studying, but I can get back to it whenever. What's going on?" she asked, heading for the door.
"You want to put some clothes on?" Sara asked, raising an eyebrow at Boon, who was still in her pajamas.
Alicia looked down at her matching sleep shirt and pants, and the various kittens posed on its sky blue background. "Is this a 'change into my uniform' kind of talk?"
"I guess not. But Baxter will be there."
Boon waved a dismissive hand. "If it's just the three of us, I would rather not. I'm not on shift again for another six hours, and I'm probably gonna hit the sack after we talk."
Sara gave a shrug and turned down the hall as Boon exited the room, and they headed for the captain's quarters.
"How is the studying coming?" Sara asked, as they stepped through the door into her room. She headed for the small kitchenette that only the captain’s quarters had, and pulled three glasses out of the cupboard.
Boon rolled her eyes, and flopped down on the couch. "About as well as can be expected. I just don't get why so many things are considered when planning a battle, if most of it just gets thrown out as soon as the bullets start flying."
Silva and Alister hopped up on the far side of the couch, and curled up against one another in a pile of cuteness that made Boon warm and fuzzy.
"Well, you have to have a plan to adapt from. Going in guns blazing gets a lot of people killed. Do you want some whiskey?" Sara asked, turning and waggling a bottle of the brown liquid suggestively.
Boon thought about the first time she’d had the stuff, sitting at the very table Sara was standing behind, and shook her head in the negative. "No thanks. I'll just take some juice or something."
Sara smiled. "Wuss."
But she poured some orange juice from the wall dispenser into Boon’s glass. The other two glasses received two fingers of single malt and a few ice cubes. She brought all three to the coffee table.
Just as Boon was reaching for her glass, the door open
ed, and Baxter walked in. He was all smiles until he saw the small, blonde woman in her PJs, sitting on the couch. His smile faltered, but returned once he reread the situation.
"Hello, Boon. I didn't realize you would be joining us," he said, nodding to her.
Sara handed him one of the glasses of whiskey, and smiled up at him. "I told you I just needed to talk some things out. What did you think was going to happen here?"
Boon gave a chuckle as Baxter looked down at the red-haired captain, his grin plastered on like his life depended on it. "Nothing. Just a talk, I guess," he said with forced joviality.
"Mm hmm," Sara said, her eyes suspicious slits. Then she smiled and gave a laugh herself. "Relax. Me and you can chat after."
"I'm still on duty."
She looked down at the glass she was holding. "Well, shit. I don't know where my mind has been lately," she shook her head, and downed one of the glasses in one go. After choking a little on the burning liquid, she croaked, "You want some coffee?"
"Uh, I'm good. Why don't you tell me what's up?" Baxter invited, a look of concern on his face.
Sara held up a finger to indicate she would get to the question in a minute. "Cora, are you there?" she asked the room.
"I am. I figured you would want me here, after the way you left the bridge," her twin sister said through the room’s speakers.
"Good." Sara flopped down into one of the chairs at the table. She put the empty glass down and took a sip from the still full one. "I have a confession to make, and you three are the people I trust the most, besides Grimms. But to be honest, I'm afraid to tell him."
The room waited for her to gather her thoughts. Baxter sat across from her, and Boon tucked her bare feet under herself, leaning forward in anticipation. Even Alister and Silva perked up and focused on her.
Sara leaned her head to one side, then the other, cracking her neck with loud pops. She rolled her shoulders and took a deep breath.
"So, you know how I tend to play things close to the vest?"
War Mage Chronicles- Part One Page 51