by T. M. Catron
It was a staff.
She stared at it a moment, trying to work out what she was seeing. Then she looked back at Roote’s face. The war there was gone, replaced by grim determination . . . and satisfaction. Her insides, already jumbled into knots from the chase, jumped up into her throat.
“You didn’t learn that at the Academy, did you?”
Chapter Six
“Afraid not,” Roote said. Then he bowed with a hand over his heart. “My name is Solaris. At your service, Captain Cooper.”
Rance stood with her mouth open. It was unprofessional and made her look like an idiot, but she couldn’t hide her shock. Then, the gears clicked into place.
“We helped you escape Xanthes,” she said.
“Yes. I hope you don’t mind.”
“Did Harrison know?”
“Of course not—you think I’d trust that buffoon with my most closely guarded secret?”
Rance smiled at Roote’s—Solaris’—use of the word. That’s what she thought of Harrison too. “So you’re a . . . a . . .”
“A Galaxy Wizard. Yes. And for the record, I didn’t murder my entire family, like Abel so nicely suggested. But we better get out of here. They’ll track these guys shortly.”
Rance looked at the soldiers at their feet, momentarily forgotten in her shock. “Are they dead?”
“No. Come on.”
“So much for swearing off violence.”
“Yeah, well.” He stepped over them to the nearest door, facing back the way they’d come. “If we go up here, we can work our way back to the Star Streaker from the rooftops.”
The shock was wearing off, and Rance remembered that they weren’t out of trouble yet. She crossed her arms. “I can think of a number of reasons why going back to the Streaker is a stupid plan, Solaris. I thought Galaxy Wizards were smart.”
“If it makes you feel any better, I’m smarter than most.” He winked and tapped the door with his staff. The door clicked open.
Rance gasped. “How’d you do that? It was locked and sealed!”
“Magic.”
“I don’t believe in magic.”
“Smart woman.” He jerked his head toward the door. “This way.”
Rance couldn’t tell if he was making fun of her or not, but she didn’t hesitate in walking through the door. The artificial lights were dim compared to the bright suns outside. Her eyes took a second to adjust, and then she groaned.
“More stairs.”
Something above their heads popped and sparked. Rance looked up in time to see a security camera burst. Roote—Solaris, Solaris—was bringing his staff down. “Oops,” he said, smiling.
Then, with a flick of his wrist, the staff folded up into the baton again. He tucked it back into his satchel, hidden but within easy reach. Then he pulled up a map of the building on his handset. He transferred it to her NNR. “Two flights up, then an elevator.”
“What, you can’t just magic us up to the roof?”
“You know, I liked you better when I thought you were a smuggler.”
Rance snorted. “I am a smuggler.”
“Time to change,” he said, ignoring her comment. “Hope you weren’t too attached.”
“Attached to what?”
As Rance watched, his face shifted, morphing with a slight shimmer into fairer skin, a few freckles, and a more rounded nose. Then his dark hair turned wavy brown. When his appearance finished changing, Solaris tucked his now-light hair back into its ponytail.
“Need a haircut,” he said.
“You can’t magic that too?”
“It’s not really magic, you know. It’s lots and lots of study.”
“Study of what?”
“Ah. That I can’t tell you. Do I look alright?”
Rance looked him over. He was the same height, but he looked like an entirely different man. It was confusing. She’d just been getting to know the dark-haired man, Roote. But maybe now it would be easier for her to remember his real name. “You’re alright,” she said.
“Do I need a beard?”
She shook her head. “I can’t tell you’re the same person at all. Is this what you really look like?”
Solaris smirked. “What would be the fun in that?”
“So the other face was real.”
“Not that one either,” he said as he moved toward the stairs.
They took them two at a time, and in no time at all they were walking through a crowd on the second floor waiting to get an elevator. Again, the throng of people parted for Solaris, and soon they were at the front, first in line for the elevator. Rance glanced back. No one had even seemed to notice them glide through.
Rance was just starting to think they’d made an easy escape when the elevator doors opened, and no fewer than four Unity soldiers walked out, visors up but large guns ready. She saw them before Solaris, who had turned to look behind. Surprised by their quarry directly in front of them, the soldiers took half a second to look shocked.
Half a second was all Rance needed. She grabbed Solaris by the arm and yanked him away from the doors just in time to avoid the first blast from a stunner. It missed Solaris and hit a bystander. The man flew backward against the opposite wall, bowling over people as he went. Someone in the crowd screamed so close to Rance’s ear it hurt. The rest of the crowd scattered in panic.
Rance and Solaris were jostled with them. The soldiers fanned out, blocking their escape to the outside doors. With the panicked crowd behind and the soldiers in front, Rance couldn’t see a way through.
And then something strange happened. The world shifted like she was staring at her attackers through a transparent bubble. Solaris was holding his staff out in front of him; the bubble was emanating from it. It reminded her of the Streaker’s shields.
The bubble expanded in front of Rance just in time to deflect the multiple stunner blasts headed their way. Each shot sounded like a rubber pellet hitting a plastic ball. The bright energy bubble wobbled and rippled in purple waves, but held.
“Get out!” Solaris yelled, reminding her to move.
He can produce a shield from his staff, she thought, impressed. Then she turned and shouted at the crowd behind. “OUT OF MY WAY!”
To her surprise, people jostled each other until she could squeeze through. She glanced back, hoping Solaris would follow. But he was raising the staff above his head, the shield now warbling out of it in waves.
Then he brought it down on the floor with a resounding crack. A wave hit the soldiers so hard it blew them backward, the blasts from their guns flying in all directions. Big chunks of wall went with them, making the hallway look like a bomb had gone off.
Then the shield lifted, and Solaris ran to her. “Told you to go,” he panted as he ran back for the stairwell.
“I don’t leave anyone behind.”
Rance reached the door first. It opened with a hiss as soon as her hand touched it. They ran through and closed the door. Solaris tapped it, and she heard the seals click into place.
They paused.
“Up or down?” she asked.
Solaris snapped his fingers. “Got an idea. They know where we are, right? So we can use the com again. James can gather the crew at the hangar and come get us.”
Rance shook her head.
“Why not?”
“The ship’s not there. Someone stole it.” Her heart sank. She had no way to replace something as precious and valuable as her ship.
But Solaris was grinning again. She wanted to punch his pearly white teeth.
“What’s so funny?”
“The ship isn’t gone.” He jerked his head up the stairwell. “Tell James we’re on the way.”
They sprinted up the stairs, and Rance had trouble climbing them while hailing James at the same time. As they passed each level, Solaris took out every camera and touched every door with his staff, locking them. That’s handy, she thought.
Before long, her leg muscles burned, then turned to jelly. But she pus
hed through it; she didn’t have a choice.
“You okay, Captain?” James finally whispered over the com.
“James! Get back up to the hangar and . . . take off,” she wheezed. “Sending . . . coordinates. Come get us. Make sure we don’t leave anyone behind.”
“Have you forgotten why we landed in the first place? They have us surrounded.”
“I have a plan,” Solaris said. He wasn’t wheezing, but he didn’t seem to be fairing much better than Rance.
She clutched a stitch in her side. Ten days in hyperspace had not exactly prepped them for climbing miles of stairs. “He . . . has . . . a plan. Come get us.”
“You okay?” Solaris asked.
In answer, Rance passed him on the stair and kept climbing. By the time they reached the top, neither had any room left for talking.
They sank down on top of the roof, pressing themselves against the wall near the door. Around them, skyscrapers jutted up into clouds overhead like jagged teeth piercing the air.
“Just like climbing a mountain,” Solaris said after a minute.
“Never climbed a mountain,” Rance said, raising up on her heels beside him.
“Never? Well that’s what it feels like.”
“Remind me never to climb one, then.”
“What if they don’t make it here?” Solaris asked, frowning.
“If the Streaker’s really there, they’ll make it.”
As if on cue, the ship burst out of the clouds above and circled once over their building. Its bronze hull gleamed in the light of the twin suns. A burst of pride shot through Rance’s heart. The Star Streaker really was a beautiful ship. She stood and waved, knowing James would see them through the hull-mounted cameras.
The roof was too narrow for a landing though.
“Maybe they can lower a ladder?” Solaris asked.
“Nah.” She punched his arm. “We’ve got to jump.”
“Captain,” James called. “Company’s coming. Now or never.”
“Now,” she said.
The Star Streaker swooped around, passing just above and away from the building. As it did, the cargo doors opened. Tally stood there with a line, hooked in and ready to catch them. The Graeken dangling out of the door was a strange sight.
Rance and Solaris stepped to the edge of the roof, looking down. The long view down was so far it didn’t even look real.
Just as well, Rance thought.
This time, when the ship came around, it slowed. Rance took a deep breath.
And jumped.
For a heart-stopping moment, she glimpsed the ground far below. Then her feet connected to the wing, and her magnetic boots engaged with a harsh click, holding her in place as she gained her balance. Solaris landed nimbly beside her, looking for all the world as if he’d done this before. The ship held steady just long enough for them to jump again, through the open bay door.
Rance landed in a roll as the door closed. Solaris landed beside her as the Streaker shot up into the clouds again. She righted herself, sitting on the floor and checking for injury. But other than some minor bruising and being exhausted, she was okay. Solaris seemed unharmed, as well.
Tally nodded to Rance, who grinned. “Not bad, huh?”
He rolled his green eyes. “Whatever you say, Captain.” Then he stared at Solaris. “Who’s this?”
“Our CO. Tally, meet Solaris. Solaris, meet Tally.”
“How did you already need a new—wait, Solaris? . . . Roote?”
“That’s me,” Solaris said.
Tally scowled. “Do you think this is some kind of joke?”
“No time to argue, gentlemen!” Rance climbed the ladder into the cockpit. Solaris followed.
James was already busy evading two Unity ships. “They’re locking on again, Captain. And they’re not using EMP cannons now, either.”
“Get us out of the atmosphere,” Solaris said. “I’ll make sure they don’t see us.”
“And just what makes you think—” James turned, expecting, no doubt, to see Roote. “A new one, already, Captain? How’d you find the time?”
“No time, James, no time!”
James flipped a switch and steered them around another shining building. The massive structures rose up around them like rocks in a sea. When they cleared the last one, he punched the engine, sending them shooting out of the atmosphere.
The G-force was incredible, slamming them all against the backs of their crash chairs. Rance’s cheeks slid back toward her ears.
James had skipped engaging the artificial gravity.
“What’s the plan?” she asked Solaris. It came out more like, “ots the lan?”
As soon as they cleared Doxor 5’s atmosphere, James engaged the gravity. Rance landed against the cushion of her seat, jolted but unhurt.
“Next time we dock,” she said, massaging her cheeks, “we’re going to install automatic gravity control.”
“I’ve been begging for that for five years,” James said.
“Captain,” Solaris said, “prepare for a jump to hyperspace—“
“Ships!” James yelled.
“Where to?” Rance asked, ignoring James' announcement.
“Wherever you think we won’t be found. Preferably somewhere you know but haven’t visited in a long time. And give us another long jump, will you? Give us time to think and plan.”
“Plan for what?” James asked, pointing ahead. “And there’s no room for a jump without clearing all that.”
A colossal space station loomed ahead. Behind, the UDFs were closing fast.
“Can you get us back into that mass of ships over there? Get us lost in the crowd as you did coming in?”
“You got it.” James veered away, passing under the space station and heading for the restored queue of ships waiting to pass through the clear space between stations.
“We can only get lost there for so long,” Rance said.
Solaris turned in his seat and faced her. “Captain, how attached are you to the way this ship looks?”
“Pretty attached, why?” she asked warily.
“What if it suddenly appeared to look like another UDF?”
“Hello!” Jame said over his shoulder. “Pilot over here has no idea what’s going on or any idea why her captain and new CO have lost their heads. I can only assume the strain has finally got to you!”
Tally, who had apparently been listening to everything going on in the cockpit, interrupted James over the com. “Will you just shut up and fly?”
James muttered something under his breath about a dirt-eating lizard, but he shut his mouth. He didn’t have much room to talk anyway, as his entire focus shifted to evading another UDF that had appeared on his screen.
“So we fake them out?” Rance asked Solaris. “You can do that?”
“For a limited time, yes. Long enough to get us into hyperspace.”
“Then do it.”
Solaris unbuckled his harness and grabbed his staff from under his chair. He flicked it out, and Rance could have sworn an electric current rippled through the entire cockpit, making the hair on her neck prickle.
Solaris closed his eyes, allowing one end of the staff to rest on the floor.
“How are you—”
“Please, Captain. I need to concentrate.”
Rance didn’t ask any more questions, but watched for something to happen. Maybe another shield would come out of the staff?
As she watched, Solaris' pale face drained of all color. But he didn’t move or even act like he was awake. Was it a deep trance? A minute later, he opened his eyes and sank down into his chair.
“That’s it?” she said. Maybe it hadn’t worked.
“Captain Cooper,” he said as he closed his eyes again. “I think you were preparing your coordinates?”
Rance blushed, and then got mad. She never blushed. But she’d been so fascinated by what Solaris was doing that she forgot what she was supposed to be doing.
James broke the awkward
moment by saying, “UDFs are breaking out of attack mode. Going to search formation.”
“What?” Rance asked, checking her own screen.
The blips that represented the Unity fighters were spreading out. Solaris had done it. Rance could almost see the confusion on their pilots’ faces. She imagined lots of swearing and yelling going over their coms.
Over the Streaker’s com, the crew cheered. Rance locked in their destination and waited while James used their new look to his advantage, flying up to the head of the line. Ships large and small moved out of their way, and soon they were facing nothing but open space.
In a wash of blue, they jumped into hyperspace.
Chapter Seven
An hour later, the crew sat shoulder to shoulder on the benches in the galley, crammed together even more than usual. All except Solaris, who sat perched on the end of a bench by himself. All faces were turned toward the Galaxy Wizard, staring at him. Abel’s mouth was open. Rance sat across from Solaris with Tally at her right.
They’d set a course for Ares, an eight-day jump. Ares wasn’t as developed as Doxor 5, but still densely populated. Rance was relying on its small presence of security to lay low for a while. No one attacked Ares, because no one thought it was worth attacking.
When Solaris didn’t speak, everyone turned to Rance, waiting for her to begin the questions they were begging to have answered. But the silence stretched out longer as Rance considered their situation. How much about this man did she want to know? By keeping him onboard, she was already endangering her crew and her ship. But the damage had been done, after all. Knowing his story wouldn’t make it any worse.
Maybe marrying Harrison McConnell wouldn’t be so bad compared to what Unity would do to her if they found out she was harboring a known fugitive.
No, nothing would be worse than marrying Harrison McConnell.
Solaris refused to speak, waiting for Rance to pronounce judgment, maybe. He watched her with his intense blue eyes, his staff folded and laid on the table with his hands over it. The silence stretched out until Rance couldn’t bear it anymore. She shifted in her seat and put on her best Captain face.
The crew leaned forward as one, expectant faces turned back to her as if she were a goddess sent to grant their every desire.