I can’t wait any longer. Those dreadnaughts will be leaving to attack Liz and the others before long. I’m surprised they haven’t left already. This nuke would work better if it was planted inside, but I can’t get in and I don’t have time to figure it out. My best bet is to place the nuke at the weakest point on the ship’s armor and hope for the best.
Tia checked the oxygen indicator on her heads-up display and made a quick calculation in her head. If I set the timer to five minutes, I should be able to drift far enough away to escape the blast. I’ve got an hour of air left. Maybe Sandy will come back to get me once she warns the fleets. At this point, that’s my only hope.
Touching the control pad on the warhead, Tia set the timer for five minutes. Pushing the activate icon, she noted the display’s clock begin counting down.
Streaks of distant light out the corner of her eye caught Tia’s attention. She looked left and right. Dozens of streaks, some barely visible in the distance, were lighting up the space around the jammer ship and its ring of protective warships. A wave of fear for her fellow soldiers swept over her.
It’s the dreadnaughts. They’re leaving.
Reaching out with her passive scan as far as it would go, Tia sensed the line of dreadnaughts and heavy cruisers. As she’d feared, ships in the line were departing as they activated their ion-drives and made their way into the asteroid belt. Within seconds, only the jammer ship and its protective escorts remained.
I’m too late. They’re on their way to attack the fleets. Matt and Liz are in danger. I can’t wait five minutes. I’ve got to give Sandy a chance to warn the fleets. I’ve got to take out the jammer, and I’ve got to do it now.
Touching the nuke’s control panel, Tia stopped the timer at four and a half minutes. She reset it for one second. Placing the tip of her finger a centimeter above the activate icon, she sent an emotion of goodbye through her ring to Matthew. Closing her eyes, she brought up the image of her soulmate for one last time.
He’ll be the last thing I’ll ever see, Tia thought. That’s the way it should be. With that thought, she began moving her finger down.
* * *
“Matt,” said Brachia sounding excited. “I’ve located the jammer. It’s on the far side of the asteroid belt. Uh, wait a minute.”
Not liking the sound coming from the boy, Matthew took his eyes off the surrounding asteroids long enough to ask, “What is it?”
“We’ve got incoming. A lot of them. I’d suggest hiding, and make it fast.”
Not one to waste time asking questions, Matthew turned the fighter-bomber in the direction of a large asteroid and made for a ravine he hoped was large enough to hide their ship. It was. As soon as the fighter-bomber’s locking clamps were embedded in the hard stone, he shut down the ship’s ion-drive and all electronics except for life support. When he turned in his seat, Brachia was already in the process of unplugging the equipment scattered around the cargo bay.
“All right,” said Matthew. “We’re hidden. So what’s up?”
Before the boy could reply, the fighter-bomber vibrated. Dust particles flew into the air as the vibration increased. A shadow across the ship’s forward windscreen caused Matthew to look out and up. He drew in his breath. “What the heck?”
The bow of a Crosioian dreadnaught passed by not two kilometers away. The insignia of a large bat on a white background was plain to see. As the rest of the massive ship came into view, Matthew reached out with his passive scan. He sensed nothing.
“I’m not detecting it,” Matthew said. As the first of the dreadnaught’s several large-bore primary phase cannons came into view, he felt suddenly vulnerable in the ravine. He reached for the engine controls, wrapping his hand around the throttle. “They’ll spot us for sure. We’ve got to get out of here now.”
“No!” said Brachia sounding like anything but a ten-year-old boy. He pointed at one of two metal boxes with their lights still flashing. “This one has a stealth around us. It’s based on the X-shuttle’s technology. The other box is a copy of the Deloris Armaments PV5 camouflage unit for smaller starships. We’re practically invisible to the naked eye. Trust me. We’re safe.”
Somewhat reluctantly, Matthew released his hold on the throttle. I’m placing my life in the hands of a child, he thought. At the same time, he knew Brachia was no child when it came to intelligence. No, not a child. Dren and he may well be the smartest humans in the galaxy.
Flipping a switch on another piece of equipment, Brachia glanced at the readout before turning to Matthew. “I’m getting a reading of magic energy from the dreadnaught. I think it’s a stealth shield of some kind. I’ve never seen anything like it. The shield must be what’s blocking your passive scan. Can you detect it with an active scan? Uh, make sure you wrap a stealth shield around your scan the way Uncle Rick does. We don’t want any unnecessary attention, do we?”
Nodding his head, Matthew drew Power from his reserve and formed an active scan. He wrapped it with his best stealth shield the way his uncle had shown him. The stern of the dreadnaught was just coming into view when he cautiously reached out with his active scan and touched the rear of the massive ship. At the very first touch, he drew his scan back, praying he hadn’t been detected.
Matthew turned and looked at Brachia. “Demons. The scent of demons is all over that ship.”
As the rear of the dreadnaught faded into the distance, Matthew noticed a blue trail of light in the distance, then another. He pointed in their direction.
“I see them,” said Brachia. He looked at one of his instruments. “There are more. I think there are a lot more.” He moved some icons around on a computer panel on one of his pieces of equipment. “Matt, I’m sending out an electronic scan. Can you merge your active scan with it? Uncle Rick has told me more than once that blending magic and technology can do things neither can do on their own.”
An image of the Defiant’s mechanic, Charlie, popped into Matthew’s mind. He remembered the times on the Defiant when the Sterilian had taken Tia and him in hand and shown them how to use Power to detect faulty pieces of equipment. Using the same technique, Matthew reached into Brachia’s equipment and followed along with its waves of energy as it flowed outward from the fighter-bomber. He sensed a blurred blob of energy in the direction of the dreadnaught that had passed overhead. Other blurred blobs were all around.
“There’re hundreds of ships,” Matthew said. “From their energy readouts, I’d guess they’re all dreadnaughts or heavy cruisers.” He stretched the scan out even farther. “I think there’s at least a thousand. They’ve all got the demon scent on them. They’re all using the same stealth shield. We’ve got to warn Liz. Hidden like they are, they can strike our fleets unseen. Our ships haven’t got a chance.”
“I agree,” said Brachia as he flipped the switches on other pieces of equipment and brought them on line. “Our long-range transmitter’s not working here. We’ve got to get clear and warn Liz.”
Wasting no time, Matthew brought the fighter-bomber to a hover and prepared to shove the ion thrusters to full forward. Speed’s our only chance, he thought. We’ve got to get clear of the asteroid belt and warn the fleets before we’re spotted.
Before he could act, a feeling of warmth flowed into his right ring finger and spread up his arm, into his body. Tia, he thought. He sensed an emotion that could only mean “Goodbye.”
“No!” Matthew yelled. He sensed the hopelessness in his soulmate’s emotions. The feeling of pending doom and absolute helplessness came over him. Then he felt something else come through the green-gemmed ring. The something wasn’t hopelessness. It was hope. It was a lot of hope.
“Rick!” Matthew shouted.
Chapter 57 – Faith
____________________
Stars whipped past the Defiant’s forward video display faster than the eye could track. Richard stood next to Jeena at the back of the cockpit. Sergeant Ron and the elf Asquan sat in the pilots’ seats. The chairs for the navigator and
communications operator had been removed to make room for the Crosioian technicians who had been assigned to the recon ship to operate the new engine. Two of the orange-suited bats were standing in front of computer panels dragging icons around as fast as their paws could move. At the same time, Richard heard them hissing into microphones strapped to their heads. As Charlie had explained earlier, the bats’ visual displays were only half of the control system for the intergalactic-drive. The other half was audio signals well outside the range of human hearing.
One of the bat technicians swiveled her ears toward Sergeant Ron. “We are coming up on the Criterion system, Captain. We will be deactivating the intergalactic-drive in ten seconds.”
Sergeant Ron frowned. “Roger that. And I told you before not to call me Captain. I’m a sergeant. I work for a living.”
The bat technician snorted, sending a shower of mucus out her nose. She hissed a word that the cockpit’s translator failed to interpret. The second bat technician hissed a laugh. Sergeant Ron started to say something, but the first bat began counting down. “Five, four, three, two, one.”
The stars froze in place with a large star directly ahead. Between the Defiant and the star was a ring of asteroids stretching as far as the eye could see.
Spinning in his seat, Sergeant Ron turned and looked at Richard. “Well, we’re here, partner. Now what?”
“What indeed?” said Nickelo in Richard’s shared space. “I hope you have been thinking of some grand master plan in your private space that you haven’t bothered to share with me. I would hate to think you are relying on blind luck to see us through.”
Richard didn’t bother telling his battle computer that he had no plan. All he had was a gut feeling that he needed to be near the action if he was going to do any good. He glanced over his shoulder through the doorway to the mess area a half deck below. Three bats stood at the bottom of the stairs. The supreme leader hissed something to Red Wing and Charge-In-The-Face-Of-Great-Odds. They both shook their heads.
The supreme leader swiveled her ears toward Richard. “It is as I told you, Wizard Scout,” hissed the supreme leader. “Our fighting-computers are still being jammed. They are receiving some information from our part of the tele-network, but they cannot transmit to any of their counterparts in the assault fleets. To make matters worse, communication with the master computer is also being blocked now.” She swiveled her ears at her two companions before pointing them back at Richard. “My fighting-computer has picked up the attack orders. The fleet of dreadnaughts and heavy cruisers are moving into position. They will be making their assault soon.”
Clenching his fists, Richard glanced back at Jeena before returning his attention to the supreme leader. “There’s got to be a way. You’ve got to order them to stop. If there’s too much killing, no one will be able to stop this war—not you, not War-King Bistoria, and certainly not me.”
The supreme leader nodded and shrugged her wings. “Believe me, Wizard Scout, I know. The Empire is going to be destroyed.” She swiveled her ears at the ceiling before turning them back to Richard. “The elf and you fought honorably with our recon team. I will see that the crew of the Defiant and you are kept alive. With the destruction of the Empire and Trecorian fleets, my soldiers are going to need all the help they can get against the demons. We can only hope that we Crosioians and the United Galaxy Alliance forces in this magic dimension of yours will prove to be enough to defend our galaxies.”
Richard thought back to what the master demon had shown him. The certainty that the Crosioians and UGA would be woefully inadequate swept over him. “No,” he said. “It will not be enough.”
Something soft touched Richard’s shoulder. The warmth of Jeena’s hand passed through the material of the deactivated battle suit. With over seventeen thousand sensors embedded in the suit, it was as if her hand was touching his bare skin. The feeling was very pleasant. Richard turned to stare into the elf’s molten-silver eyes.
“All is not lost, my bondmate,” said Jeena. “I have faith in you. Since our first mission together for ‘the One,’ you have always come out victorious when others would have gone down in defeat. Somehow you will succeed again.” She touched the left side of her chest. “In my heart, I know you will think of something. Do not allow your doubts to build a wall against you.” Removing her hand from her chest, Jeena placed it over Richard’s heart. “You have more Power at your disposal than you think, Rick.” She patted the left side of his chest twice. “Seek the answer in here. You are not alone. You will never be alone as long as breath is in my body.”
The molten silver of Jeena’s eyes drew Richard in. From the first time he’d seen her in the elves’ council chamber, he’d thought her eyes held all the answers if he only knew the right questions to ask. He let the elf’s beautiful eyes draw him in farther than he’d ever dared go. He did not resist their pull. It was if he was being drawn into the very depths of her soul. He sensed her courage, pride, love, fears, strength, passion, and a thousand other emotions. He sensed something else. He sensed a part of himself inside her. At the same time, he sensed a part of her in him.
Richard’s thoughts went back to a vision, more a memory really, that he’d once seen when he and Nickelo had hacked their way into the Crosioians’ part of the tele-network. He remembered how the vision had shown a fertilized egg taken from a woman, a wizard scout. In the shared memory, he’d seen the embryo implanted with splices of DNA from orc, troll, gnome, dwarf, dragon, and elf. The embryo had been him. Richard remembered how the memory had shown the first part of ‘the One’ sharing a piece of its gaseous self with him as well.
“That’s right,” said Nickelo in their shared space. “That’s why you can hack into computers better than any other wizard scout. A part of ‘the One’ exists in you. So does a part of your bondmate. I calculate that is also why you can manipulate magic while other wizard scouts cannot. The two of you make each other better than you would be by yourselves.”
Richard thought of Jeena’s admonition not to let his doubts build a wall against him. The thought of the impossibility of the task he faced washed over him. I’ve got more than enough doubts to build a wall, he thought. His words brought a memory of another wall. It was a wall he’d spotted when he’d first seen Nickelo’s memory of his birth. Something tingled in the back of his mind. The something seemed excited. Richard became excited too.
“Jeena,” Richard said. “I need your help.”
His bondmate asked no questions. As he reached into their bond link, she opened herself up completely giving of herself, her Power, and her connection to the Staff of the Lady of the Tree.
Richard drew it all into his own self before turning every bit of it over to Nickelo.
“Rick,” said Nickelo sounding more than a little concerned in their shared space. “What are you doing?”
“Come with me,” Richard ordered using command voice. He sensed his battle computer’s thoughts turning back on themselves as he worked his way into his battle computer’s mind. Time stopped, or Richard’s mind sped up to nanosecond speed. He cared not which. All that mattered was that he was working his way ever deeper into Nickelo’s mind. He sensed a thread of his battle computer’s logic following him as he went. Soon they were next to a wall composed of logic, magic, and pure Power.
“I want to know what’s on the other side,” Richard said. “I’ve got to know.”
“Rick,” said the logic thread that was the part of Nickelo accompanying him. “That part of my mind is blocked off. It has always been blocked off. Even I cannot get past it.”
“No, you can’t,” Richard agreed growing more sure he was on the right track. “But it hasn’t always been such. I think the wall disappears when ‘the One’ needs it to go away. You are a part of ‘the One.’ You and every other gas-based life form are part of ‘the One.’ You don’t remember it, but you are. I need you to remember everything now.”
“I can’t,” said Nickelo. “I don’t know how.�
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“Then we’ll have to learn how together, and we’re going to learn right now.”
Touching the protective wall in his battle computer’s mind with a line of Power, Richard probed the flows of energy blocking the section of Nickelo’s memory that was hidden.
“I’m not sure about this,” said Nickelo.
“I am,” Richard replied growing more confident. “I want to know what’s on the other side of the wall. You handle the logic. I’ll take care of the Power.”
“What about the magic?” said Nickelo sounding as if he hoped he’d found an excuse not to proceed.
“I’ll take care of the magic as well.” Richard touched the part of his bondmate that was within him. Jeena’s mind wasn’t operating at nanosecond speed, but it didn’t matter. His mind was. He drew magic from his bondmate. He drew even more from the Staff of the Lady of the Tree.
Richard sensed Shandria, who was the Lady of the Tree, through the staff. No words passed between them, but a tickle at the back of his mind told him that the Tree of Light, Shandria, and her bondmate, Carndador, were there to assist him. Merging their combined Power and magic with that of Jeena’s, Richard wrapped it all with Power—not Power from his reserve, but Power from the glowing globes in the underground cavern known as the Presence of the Lady.
Lining up the magic and Power with the corresponding flows in the protective wall, Richard said, “You’ve got the controls, Nick. There’re too many lines of energy for me. Do your thing.”
Richard’s magic and Power was immediately surrounded by logic. The trio of energy types merged and began moving in a pattern that exactly matched the flows of energy in the wall. The energy in the wall strengthened as if something sensed it was being attacked. Throwing caution to the wind, Richard merged his mind with the magic, logic, and Power combination. He sent out a line of the trio of energy and probed the wall. He found what he sought—a point in the wall slightly weaker than that around it. Instinctively, he knew even the weak point was too strong for a direct attack.
Wizard Defender (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 8) Page 46