Conjured Defense (Terra Chronicles Book 4)

by J. C. Jackson

  I stood in the corner of the room to read.

  Was this what he planned on showing me? Eventually I made it to a section describing the orb. I knew much of the translation was wrong. Particularly about the orb itself.

  Where had I seen this writing before and why could I not remember how to translate it?

  Silver reappeared after some time. “You have some strange habits.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Take a look at this. I think this is where Jake got the idea for the orb.”

  He twisted to read. “I don’t understand a word of it. Even the translation seems foreign.”

  I flipped through a few pages. “It’s completely different from anything either of us probably knows and I doubt the accuracy of the translation.”

  “Wasn’t he an expert?”

  “Supposedly, but…” I glanced at the people within earshot. “Perhaps we should save this for later. We should get him down.”

  I got a larger bag out and put the book in as evidence, marking the bag. This one would stay with us. The rest I planned to somehow get to Sparky. We would need to coordinate with someone here to get it sent.

  I wondered if we could send Jake as well.

  “Jonim asked if we would wait for their coroner. I might have overstepped my boundaries, but I spoke with him about coordinating our efforts and sharing information.”

  I pursed my lips. I would rather have kept it in house, but we were at a disadvantage here. “It’s a good idea.”

  “Were there any fingerprints?”

  I shook my head. “Not unless there’s something on the rope I can’t get at until we get it off of him. Should probably check the rest of the room. Not sure why I didn’t think of that sooner.”

  “You also had a pretty traumatic experience recently,” Silver noted.

  “Not sure I should ask,” Jonim said as he came in with a trail of other Naval personnel.

  I glanced up at Silver for a moment. “I think we need to sit down and make sure we’re all on the same page. For right now, can we make sure no one goes on-board the ship?”

  “Already in place, lass. Why don’t we work together for now? Especially if you folks don’t mind doing the heavy lifting for processing evidence and making sense out of this mess.”

  I nodded. That was acceptable. “We’ll need to high priority send evidence back to our lab. We can scan fingerprints here.”

  Jonim smiled. “I think perhaps we’ve been going about it all wrong this whole time. I’ll be interested to hear what you have once we’re finished here. And we can get whatever you need out.”

  “We’ll need to get back on-board to finish collecting evidence,” Silver noted.

  “That piece definitely needs to get to Sparks. We should tape off the room with access to the amplifier - I don’t want anyone else coming in contact with it until we know more about it.”

  “Sounds like you’re formulating a plan,” my partner commented.

  I tilted my chin at the Navy personnel currently getting Jake down. “More manpower means we should be able to narrow down the source of the problem with the defense system faster provided things don’t get more complicated.”

  “Let’s finish up here and then go collect what we need from the ship and get it out.”

  The new information could wait. It was time to get to work.

  ~*~

  It was just Silver, Jonim, and I on-board the ship. While Silver finished collecting what we needed from the ceiling, I stayed near the door, away from the stations.

  “I see you have an aversion to the system,” Jonim commented.

  “Getting stuck was not my idea of fun,” I said.

  Jonim stroked his beard. “Now you’ve got to explain what your boy meant when he said you had a traumatic experience earlier. I’m thinking it’s not in reference to yesterday’s test.”

  I sighed and folded my arms, thinking about how to explain what happened.

  Silver spoke first. “She went searching for the source of the defense station’s malfunction, found the amplifier, and accidentally came in contact with it.”

  Jonim stopped and stared at me. “Wait, are you saying you can access the system without using either of the stations?”

  “More than that,” I said, resigned to the conversation. “I was able to access ship systems which shouldn’t be connected. Lights, cameras, doors…”

  “Doors? Nothing should affect the doors - there’s no system to operate them.”

  I tilted my head, wondering why the doors closed.

  “Did you actively operate the doors?” Silver asked.

  I shook my head. “I thought it was the system acting on a self-preservation program or something like that.”

  “Then there was someone else on-board?” Silver asked.

  “Maybe or maybe not.” Jonim stroked his beard. “If the door is facing port or starboard, the rocking of the ship could close it unexpectedly. They didn't build this to normal specs. Tough to get open, quick to close on their own.”

  “I wouldn't rule out the possibility,” Silver said.

  “Normally I would tell you not to worry about it, but someone just showed up dead who I wouldn't expect to commit suicide. Not when his project finally started taking off. I’ll have the footage pulled when I get back to my office.”

  Silver handed me the bag with the tag still blank. He shrugged. “Your handwriting is nicer.”

  I rolled my eyes and dug out a pen to fill it out. “When we get back to the hotel, I’ll finish scanning the fingerprints into the file for Sparks. I hope we don’t bury him.”

  My partner shrugged. “Eh, he’s been wanting more of a challenge lately.”

  I tossed the evidence bag back at Silver. “He's about to get it. We should get this stuff sent. There's a lot and I'm certain the cyber team is going to enjoy picking apart his computer.”

  “You thinking there's something on that one? Can't say I've ever seen it on,” Jonim said.

  I crossed my arms. “If his financials are any indication, there could be.”

  Jonim stroked his beard. “I see I’m not the only one who’s been questioning Spelltech.”

  “How did this project ever get approved to this point?” I asked.

  Jonim sighed. “Heard something about Jake had a friend in the Navy who pulled some strings. It was a good enough proposal they didn’t make him go through the normal channels. Being able to make better use of the casters in the military - they jumped on it. Frankly most of them just take up space and resources. No offense.”

  I shrugged. “If there’s no specific purpose for them, I can see your problem. Sometimes it’s hard to compete with technology.”

  The Commander grinned at us. “Yet neither one of you seems to have a problem.”

  Silver pointed at me. “She dragged me into this.”

  “I did not. You took the job offer from the Director,” I shot back.

  “Close enough.”

  I rolled my eyes. He could be such a child sometimes.

  Jonim crossed his arms and looked back and forth between us. “I’ve got to admit, I am curious as to what made both of you different from every other caster we’ve had for this project. Especially you, lass.”

  “How many paladins have you had?” Silver asked.

  “None. Not going to lie, lad, you don’t look like one.”

  Silver’s shield appeared on his left arm. “I try not to stand out too much. Besides, my old armor chaffed after a while.”

  I smirked at his answer. He rarely spoke about his time prior to the TIO.

  “And you, lass? Don’t tell me you’re the arcane equivalent.”

  I shook my head, hesitating for a moment before I admitted, “Arcanist.”

  “Not familiar with the term.”

  Biting my lower lip, I looked to Silver who simply nodded. “My connection to the arcane is genetic.”

  Jonim frowned. “And here I thought the lad was being flowery with his words when he said you
had a ‘natural predisposition’ for the arcane. Couldn’t blame you for withholding the information from Jake. He would have started looking for every Arcanist he could get his hands on, which would have done the project no good.”

  “Why haven't you done anything about him before this?” Silver asked.

  “Others have tried and gotten transferred. I've been collecting information and biding my time. The man had some powerful friends and I happen to like this place,” Jonim said.

  “And our presence provided a means to begin doing something about it,” I concluded.

  “You've got it, lass.”

  I sighed. There was little we could do about being used in this fashion. “We should seal the amplifier room.”

  Silver looked down at me. “I really don't think anyone else will have a problem with it.”

  I turned away from the others, but only enough to keep them in my peripheral vision. “I'd rather make sure I can't get into it. At least not easily.”

  Both men looked at me as if I had gone mad. I certainly began to think I had.

  “I thought you said you had broken from it,” my partner accused.

  I took a deep breath. I could see his confusion. “I am, but I can feel the pull of the system just being near the amplifier.”

  “That explains why you wanted out of there,” Silver muttered, packing his bag.

  “Wait, are you telling me there’s more to the amplifier than simply amplifying the magical energy sent to it?”

  I nodded.

  “But it doesn’t affect you.” Jonim pointed at Silver.

  “I don’t have the genetic connection to the divine. I also didn’t touch the amplifier directly,” my partner grumbled.

  “Damn.” Jonim appeared to be lost in his thoughts.

  “What?” I asked after a few seconds.

  He shook himself out of it. “I’m not sure it has anything to do with it or not, but Jake’s erratic behavior started roughly around the time he completed the amplifier.”

  Silver looked directly at me. “We’re sealing that room.”

  Chapter 13

  Once Silver and I finished collecting the piece we needed from the ship, we headed back to the Spelltech warehouse with Jonim. The casters and other employees stood outside arguing with each other. Jonim hurried over to break it up.

  When Silver and I got close enough, Mason made his way over.

  “What’s going on?” Silver asked.

  Mason paused, wringing his hands. “Depends, have you guys heard what happened to Jake?”

  “Yeah,” I said flatly. “We processed the scene.”

  Mason frowned. “Now everyone is up in arms about what to do next and who should be in charge.”

  Hearing a creak from the large shipping containers we stood near, I looked up, eying them suspiciously. Probably settling. “I would think that’s for Spelltech and Naval Command to decide.”

  “I’m staying out of this,” Mason said.

  Silver crossed his arms. “Should we help him break it up?”

  “Probably,” I said, stepping toward the group.

  “And you bring these people in and suddenly he’s dead,” the Dwarven arcane caster from the DAC said.

  Jonim appeared to be at the end of his patience. “They ain’t got nothing to do with Jake’s death.”

  “Maybe not, but he was obsessing over her.” The Dwarven woman who spoke before pointed at me. “What makes her special?”

  The creak turned into something much louder and the top container tilted, threatening to crash down on us.

  “Everyone run, now!” Silver ordered.

  I did, but ran into the middle of the group, bringing my arms up overhead with my forearms crossed, my shield spell in place in time to catch the falling container. I grunted under the pressure of holding it up. Many of the people screamed and ran.

  Pushing more of my power into the spell, I could only maintain the shield, not move the container. I took a step back, to keep my stance. I needed to keep it up long enough for everyone to get clear of it. The constant pressure drained my arcane energy reserves quickly. A couple of people cowed on the ground.

  Silver came up next to me.

  “Run. I can’t hold this much longer,” I said through clenched teeth. My legs might give out first. Either would get me crushed under the large metal container.

  He brought his sword up behind his shield and created his protective bubble. “Let go - I’ve got it. See if you can push it back up.”

  I switched so my hands were out in front of me, wary when the container settled lower against Silver’s shield spell. Conjuring the strongest wind I could manage, I slowly pushed the container back to where it belonged.

  Another shield spell went up with Silver’s. I glanced over to see Mason casting it. The arcane casters from the EAC and DAC stepped up and supported my wind spell with their own, moving the container faster. A third shield spell went up while we got it back to where it should be.

  As soon as we got the container in place, the others moved away and I waited for Silver.

  “Go!” He yelled and pushed me to run. The container creaked loudly as it settled in place.

  The container crashed to the ground again half of a minute later. Once the dust settled, I noticed it had damaged the integrity of the container under it so it would not support another on top.

  I folded my arms and turned my attention up to Silver. “Looks like we have another scene to process.”

  He crossed his arms and frowned. “We still haven’t finished with the first one.”

  “Yer an Arcanist, ain’t you?” the Dwarven woman from the DAC asked. “Ain’t seen another mage cast that fast.”

  Turning, I found we had everyone’s attention. I nodded.

  “Jake kept sayin’ you were special. Heard you got the system operational. Assumed he wanted to get a rise out of us again.”

  “I think most of us assumed that,” Mason said.

  “We should get to work,” Silver said quietly.

  “Yeah, and about you,” one of the divine casters said. “I thought Mason was lying when he said there was a cooperative mixed magic team then you show up to be a paladin - the absolute last type of divine caster I thought would ever be able to work with what sounds like the extreme end of the arcane spectrum.” He looked over at the mages standing together.

  The EAC mage nodded at the assessment. “I’m feeling shown up here. Guess I got to step up my game if these two extremes can work together.”

  I bowed. “Please excuse us. We have quite a bit of work ahead of us.” It never occurred to me before that Silver and I were on opposite ends of the spectrum.

  “We might have to push back our dinner plans,” Silver said.

  I rolled my eyes. We just nearly got crushed and he was thinking about food. “You sound like Sparks.”

  Once we were out of earshot, Silver asked, “You okay?”

  I took a deep breath before answering. “Using my shield spell like that drained a lot, but I’ll be fine.”

  “That was certainly an interesting twist.”

  “Hm?”

  “Getting them to start thinking about cooperating with each other.”

  I turned the corner and looked at the burn mark on the upper corner of the container. “Sometimes a practical application is a better example than theory.”

  “Could you have made it sound more boringly scientific?”

  It would not be the first time Silver asked me that. We went around the fallen container. The metal box rested on its side, exposing the bottom. I dug in my bag for a pair of gloves. At this rate we would need to buy more.

  Silver dug his camera out and we got to work. There were three dents in the bottom equal distance from each other along what would have been the backside of the container.

  We would have to get up onto the container that had been below it to see if there were corresponding marks. We also needed check to see how the integrity of the container below w
as compromised.

  While we worked, Jonim moved everyone in front of Spelltech’s warehouse. They watched us while talking to the Navy personnel who showed up. At least we would not need to do interviews later.

  Silver grinned down at me mischievously. “Can I kiss you?”

  “What?! No!” My face heated up. What had gotten into him?

  “They’re watching us so intently I thought we might as well give them a reason.”

  I rolled my eyes and turned my attention to the containers still stacked. How could I get up there without using magic? We would likely need someone to get it down to check inside of it.

  “Okay, how about a different show then?”

  I turned and Silver had his shield out.

  “You want up there, right? I can climb up with our gear bags.”

  It would not hurt to indulge him in this. Certainly would get our answers faster.

  Backing up, I waited for him to squat down with his shield before running and jumping on it. It felt like he pushed me up harder than any other time we had done this.

  I cleared the top of the container easily and flipped over to get myself more centered. Sure enough there were matching dents on the top of this one with corresponding burn marks. I peered over the backside of the containers to see if something had fallen off we should collect as evidence. Only the water lapping at the dock was below. Not likely to get anything there.

  Silver made it up while I scanned the area below.

  “Whoa. Be careful near the other side - it’s really weak. And warm,” my partner warned.

  “Think someone heated the inside to weaken it?”

  “That’s a definite.”

  “Looks like they also gave it a push.” I pointed at the indentations.

  “Yeah, someone doesn’t want us here. By the way, nice flip at the end there.”

  I shrugged. “Just wanted to get more centered on the container.”

  We went about our business documenting. There may not be much here, but it was still pieces to the puzzle.

  ~*~

  It was late by the time we left the base for the day and I had hours of work ahead of me still. I needed to get everything uploaded and scanned. We managed to get a shipment out with high priority tags on it. I messaged Sparky as Silver drove to warn him of what was coming.