Maverick: A Supernatural Space Opera Novel (Witching on a Starship Book 1)

by J. A. Cipriano

  “So we are going in there?” I asked, my gut tightening in apprehension as I stared at the gaping maw of gravity-wielding death looming in the distance. “Because what you said sounds insane.”

  “It is insane,” Jeffry said, trying to straighten up and failing. “Either way, we need to get inside this shield, or we’re going to become interstellar goo thanks to gravity.”

  “Is hiding inside the shield going to work because I’m all for leaping into the void and taking my chances if you think the team will find us,” I said as I called upon my magic and pressed my open hands onto the energy shield while hoping no one would notice us.

  As my hands touched the shield, arcs of energy flashed and popped, but I ignored it as I concentrated on using my magic to widen the hole enough for us to drop through.

  Part of me wanted to teleport through it, but well, I was worried something bad would happen if I tried to teleport through the energy shield since I’d never done that before, and it had stopped me the first time. I mean, it wasn’t like I’d visualized teleporting into it before. No, I’d visualized the hull, and this ship’s shield had swatted me out of the air like a tennis racket.

  “The Void Crushers can withstand getting pretty close to a black hole, so maybe with this shield it’s possible? Either way, it’s better than Plan A which is staying out here and dying in the vacuum of space.” Jeffry snapped, glaring at me with more emotion than he’d ever shown. “There’s no way Captain Brand can get here before the gravity of that black hole sucks us inside, anyway. Why do you think we needed you to teleport us to the coordinates? Because we were just hiding our awesome warp drive technology?”

  “Excellent point,” I replied as that realization settled over me. Captain Brand couldn’t reach us because I’d been the one teleporting them across space. Worse, I couldn’t get back to them because I wasn’t strong enough to do it across such a vast distance.

  That meant our only chance at survival was getting inside the Void Crusher. I took a deep breath, calming myself as I shoved more power into my hands, causing the pendant around my neck to flare like a miniature sun. Smoke coiled off of it, which was crazy because there was no oxygen, but then again, it was made of magical sapphires so who was I to tell it to respect the laws of physics or whatever.

  “Can’t you teleport us through it?” the vampire asked as I put one more burst of power into the spell I’d been weaving. “Because what you’re doing is going to draw attention, and we definitely do not want that.”

  The edges of the energy shield rippled as a barrier of lightning extended from my hands, ripping a porthole three feet in diameter across the shield. More sparks flew around the edges as sweat broke out on my forehead, and the strain of keeping my magic going started to weigh on me.

  “If I could do that, the energy shield wouldn’t have stopped me to begin with,” I snarled, shoving him into the hole with my free hand. “Besides, why teleport when we can jump through, eh?” As he tumbled through, I dropped in after him.

  He slammed into the hull a split second before I landed next to him. As he glared at me like I hadn’t just saved his life, I snapped my fingers, causing my spell to evaporate into the ether, and the shield to close. See, no need to check on the disturbance, everything is just fine.

  “Okay, what now?” I asked, turning to the vampire who was getting himself to his feet and dusting himself off even though there was no dust to be found.

  “Now, we get inside and turn this ship around before we get our asses dead,” he replied, pulling the small metal cylinder off his belt. Then he flicked his wrist, causing a crimson blade of light and sound to erupt from the cylinder.

  “Oh, we are so getting sued,” I mumbled as the vampire drove the lightning blade to the hilt in the ship’s hull. The metal bubbled and popped, turning the color of molten lava as an explosion of atmosphere ripped out of the hole, blowing the vampire backward. He stumbled, his hand arcing up and the sword flying from his hand to hit the shield whereupon it exploded into a million scintillating shards.

  As the atmosphere within the ship tore through the baseball-sized hole he’d just made in the hull and vanished into space, I turned to look at the vampire.

  “Well, that was excellent,” I said wondering how this was going to help us. “How the fuck are we going to get through that?”

  “We’re not,” the vampire replied, grabbing me by the hand and pulling me forward across the hull. It was a little odd because my feet sort of stuck to the metal as we moved, making each step more difficult than running on the beach. My calves began to burn after only a few feet, but the vampire still didn’t slow down, which made me hate him.

  “We. Need. To. Rest.” I huffed, trying to get my breath to stay inside my lungs as he pulled me behind one of the blackened spikes and pushed my head down.

  “Quiet. We need to make this fast, or it won’t work,” he snarled, not looking at me because he was watching the ship for sudden movements.

  Instead of mouthing off because I’d just been vampire-handled, I followed his line of sight in time to see a hatch spring open. If it hadn’t opened, I’m not sure I’d have even known it was there because it looked the same as the rest of the ship.

  A pair of small, crab-like robots with blowtorches for claws came scuttling out, and I realized they were heading toward the hole Jeffry had made in the hull. Not only that, we’d slowed down and were no longer moving toward the black hole. No, we had stopped so the machines could repair the damage.

  “You’re a genius!” I said as the vampire pulled me to my feet.

  “I know, but I never get tired of hearing it.” He smirked at me before reaching out and poking me between the breasts.

  As I opened my mouth to scream at him about personal space, he touched the same spot on his own chest and turned into a translucent outline like the predator did in those movies. A quick glance down at myself revealed me to be similarly cloaked.

  “Let’s go!” he whispered very forcefully and then took off running toward the open hatch without bothering to see if I was coming.

  I charged after him, but it was no use, I couldn’t even come close to catching him. Worse, the crabs had already laid down their sheet of metal and were welding it into place. Fuck.

  I took a deep breath and called on my power to jump through space and time. I popped out just beside the hatch as Jeffry arrived next to me. I yawned at him and stepped inside as he skidded to a stop in front of me.

  “What took you so long?” I asked, glancing over my shoulder at him.

  The vampire glared at me for a second before he stepped inside and pushed past me. It was weird because even though I couldn’t see his face, I could tell he was annoyed with me. Like really annoyed. I knew because I’d gotten that vibe from people more than a few times before.

  “You mad, bro?” I asked as the mechanical crabs began scuttling back toward us.

  As I followed the vampire into the depths of the ship, I realized that we were in pitch black darkness. A quick spell fixed that, allowing me to see in the darkness, but I almost wished I hadn’t done so because there was at least half a dozen more of the mechanical monstrosities sitting idly around us, their eyes tracking our movements like those eerie paintings in the Haunted Mansion at Disneyland.

  “No. I’m not mad,” the vampire replied, swinging one hand out to point in front of us. “But they probably are.”

  My jaw dropped as I saw the pair of mechs covered with all sorts of missiles and what not, disengage themselves from the racks in front of us and point their arsenal at us.

  “Stop or be disintegrated!” the mechs both said in a voice that slapped against my senses like a wet tongue.

  16

  I stopped. What the fuck else was I supposed to do? I mean, there were two ED-209 looking motherfuckers with missiles, cannons, and missile-cannons pointed at us. For those of you not in the know, ED-209 was the mech from Robocop. Consider yourself learned.

  Jeffry, apparently
, did not get the memo because before I could blink, the vampire launched himself forward in a blur of speed. The mechs swung around, trying to target him as he crossed the ten-foot space in an eye blink and buried his fist in the center of the left mech’s chest plate up to his shoulder. Then he tore it outward in a spray of sparks. Black fluid gushed from the wound as electricity crackled across the mech’s surface.

  He whirled on his feet, one hand gripping the mech by the shattered chest plate, and flung the entire monstrosity at the still standing mech. It hit with enough force to sandwich the pair of robots against the far wall. More electricity crackled in the air, but I was too stunned to do more than stare at the twisted wreckage that had once been a pair of robot harbingers of the apocalypse.

  “Wow,” I whispered as Jeffry hit a button on his suit, dropping his camouflage. He shrugged at me before pointing past the mechs to a porthole-like door a few feet away. It was silver and rimmed with glowing red lights, and it was big, like way bigger than would be required for a human or even those twelve-foot mechs. No, this door was huge, and I really hoped it wasn’t a Maverick-sized door and was instead used for loading freighters or something.

  “Nothing to worry yourself over,” Jeffry said, his crimson eyes flashing in the darkness as he moved toward the door and smacked his palm against the panel beside it. Nothing happened, though, which made me realize I’d been holding my breath. “I’ve done this lots of times. You’d be able to as well if you got some training.”

  I let it out in an explosive burst of air as I moved toward the vampire. Part of me couldn’t believe he’d tossed around what looked like thousand ton mechs with ease, but then again, vampires were known for bench pressing whales, which was yet another reason why I hated fighting them. It also made me really glad I hadn’t thrown down with the vamp in my apartment. If I had, there would have been no way I’d have gotten my deposit back.

  “Can you open this?” the vampire asked, pointing to the door. “Because I can break it down if you can’t, but I’d rather not. Who knows what other security protocols that would trigger?”

  “I don’t know,” I said, moving next to the door and staring at it as the hatch that we’d used to gain entry inside this ship snapped shut, leaving us in total darkness. I had half a second to squeak in fright before the area in front of me illuminated with a weird green glow rendering my spell useless. Evidently, the HUD on the front of my spacesuit let me see in the dark. Good to know.

  “Bloody well figure it out,” the vampire said, moving past me toward where he’d fought the pair of mechs. “Because all the robots are looking at us, and I’m guessing they aren’t going to invite us to tea.”

  “Well, in that case, let’s go with plan A. Break stuff,” I said, and put my hand on the door while calling upon my power. As energy spread from my hand in tendrils of pink light, I forced my magic outward in a concussive blast of force that struck the porthole, blowing it inward so hard the fragments of the door embedded in the wall some twenty feet away.

  “I just told you—”

  The vampire’s words were cut off by a shrill klaxon filling the air, making me cover my ears and drop to my knees in pain. It only lasted a minute before my suit dampened the sound down to a muffled screech, but from the lights flashing in the hallway and the hiss of compressed air, I realized they were gassing us.

  “Will that gas hurt us?” I asked, pointing into the room and taking a step backward as the hissing grew louder.

  “No. The suit will filter it out,” Jeffry said as he grabbed an approaching spider droid that looked like it was going to try and repair the door and flung it into its friend, smashing them both into a tangled mass of blackened steel. “Let’s go.”

  “On it,” I said, stepping into the room, and as I did, the tile beneath my feet turned from white to electric blue. “Um… is that good?”

  “I dunno. Red is usually bad. If you step on a red one, duck,” the vampire said, shrugging at me in a way that gave me overwhelming confidence. Not.

  “Great,” I mumbled, calling upon my magic and weaving it around me in a tornado of force I hoped would deflect any attacks. Then I moved forward as quickly as possible, not bothering to look at the floor. Only before I got halfway, the far wall started to descend, disappearing down into the bowels of the ship. Then it got stuck on the fragments I’d embedded into it with my magic.

  There was a shriek of tortured steel, and sparks flew from the mechanism as the hydraulics screamed in pain moments before the wall exploded outward in a wash of heat and flame. The molten metal hit my magic and was flung aside, splattering the walls around me with a hiss.

  Standing before me was a vaguely humanoid creature dressed in loose fitting black pants and nothing else. It stood about seven feet tall and was as wide as a linebacker. Its emerald scaled skin gleamed in the light like a thousand gemstones, and its long hair glinted like freshly spun gold as it ran one slender-fingered hand through it like an alien Fabio, pushing it back over its shoulder like a crashing wave.

  I took a deep breath and tried to ignore the combination of panic and excitement roiling around in my gut. I was seeing an alien! An honest to god alien. Up until now, I’d sort of been operating under the assumption that the government might have been fucking with me, but there it was. Exhibit fucking A.

  As it strode forward, the muscles in its chest worked under its skin in such a way that would make even Chris Hemsworth jealous. Then it raised what looked like a blunderbuss at me and pulled the trigger.

  My hand shot out before I could even think about what I was doing, and I threw a wall of force out in front of me. It was a good thing too because as a whistling hive of molten metal leapt from the weapon and flew through the air, it shattered my spell into the ether. Fortunately, that caused most of the fragments to dissolve into goo that hit the ground and started to sizzle, filling the air with the smell of sulfur while robbing those that remained behind of enough force to do more than bounce off my spacesuit like I was Supergirl.

  “What the fuck?” I snapped, glaring at the thing as its silver eyes widened in shock. Or at least that’s what the expression would have been if it’d been human, which it wasn’t. “Is that how you fuckers greet people? Shoot first ask questions later? Rude.”

  “Interesting,” the creature said in a voice that was so high-pitched, it reminded me of a really pissed off Mike Tyson. “So they brought a witch.”

  “Who you calling ‘a’ witch, asshole?” I snarled, pointing my fingers at him and unleashing a blast of blue electricity. It struck him in the chest, lifting him off his feet and sending him careening backward into the room beyond. “I’m not just ‘a’ witch. I’m Mallory fucking Quinn. You don’t fuck with me, you lizard-looking motherfucker.” I smacked my chest as I strode forward, calling upon my magic. Fire danced in my left palm as the creature started to get to its feet, its golden hair draped around its face so I couldn’t see its expression. “At least not before we’ve been properly introduced.”

  I threw the fireball at him, blowing him into a smudge that melted the floor beneath where he’d been standing into slag.

  “Wow, remind me never to piss in your pot,” Jeffry said as he bent down and picked up the blunderbuss the creature had dropped.

  “I really hate getting shot at, and it’s been twice today,” I snarled, shaking my head. “I wanted to say it’s double my limit, but my limit is zero, so technically, I could multiply my limit by infinity, and it’d be the same.” I waved off my train of thought. “You get the idea.”

  “Yeah, you’re a crazy bitch, got it.” The vampire nodded at me while the corner of his lips quirked into a smile.

  “Yeah, not super fond of being called a crazy bitch, either,” I said, calling up more fire just in case there were more toadies to blast. “So what was that thing?” I gestured to the smudge in the middle of the room. “Was it a Maverick?”

  “Yes,” Jeffry replied, moving past me in the small room and glancing at the th
ree doors that filled the far wall. Then he raised one hand. “Eenie, meenie, miney, moe, catch a tiger by the toe…”

  “Please tell me you’re not choosing the direction based on eenie, meenie, miney, moe,” I said as the vampire began walking forward, the huge blunderbuss almost comically big in his hands.

  “Then I won’t tell you,” he said crossing the small five-foot gap and moving through the door. I grumbled as he fired at something inside, spraying the contents of the hallway with more gobs of superheated metal. Then he stopped and looked at me, rubbing his chin.

  “What?” I asked, raising an eyebrow at him as he turned and fired the stolen blunderbuss down the hallway a couple more times.

  “Can you block off those doors? I don’t want people coming behind us.” He gestured to the two doors we weren’t taking before firing down the hallway again eliciting an explosion that made my ears ring.

  “Yeah, but are you sure you want to go down that one?” I asked, confused as to what he kept shooting at because I didn’t see anything in there. “Seems like there’s a lot of resistance that way.”

  “Yes,” he said like that explained everything. Then he moved forward through the door as the smoke began to clear.

  “Okay,” I said, hoping the vampire knew what he was doing because while I didn’t even have my bronze sandals, I was hoping he had like platinum ones. Speaking of which, it hardly seemed fair for this to be my first mission since stopping the Mavericks seemed tougher than I’d initially thought. I mean we were aboard an alien ship heading toward a black hole. No way was that normal. Look, I’m not complaining. I’m just saying it should count for more than one mission.

  “Are you almost through, Miss Quinn?” Jeffry called before his blunderbuss went off again.

  “Yeah, keep your shirt on,” I replied, shutting my eyes and concentrating as I raised my hands. Magic flowed out around me, coalescing across the ceiling before I tugged my hands downward like a conductor in a symphony. The ceiling tore free with a shriek of steel, and with a flick of my wrist, I flung it against the pair of doors, blocking them off.