I headed to a public comm station in a section of the school that was currently empty, since many of the students had already left for vacation and the prospects were not allowed in this area. I needed to check on the first step of my plan.
“Hey, Phoenix; checking in, I assume?” came the voice of Samuel over the comm.
“Yeah, man. You know me, always right on top of everything,” I said.
“Ha! Sure, anyway it’s all set. Your contact is a gentleman named Franze, the owner of The Star Stone, a titan-class hauler,” he said as he sent the hauler’s schedule to my comm station.
“Thanks, man, that’s perfect,” I said.
“Just so that you know, he’s not going to be cheap,” he said.
“Yeah, I know. Thanks again, Phoenix out,” I said and closed the comm. I didn’t have time to waste on chatter; the shuttle I needed to catch would launch in less than an hour. I grabbed the bag I had packed earlier, changed out of my robes into the traveling clothes of a mundane and ran for the spaceport.
On arrival I had to deal with getting my boarding pass and making it through security with my carry-on. It was hard not to be nervous at this point. If any of the professors suspected what I was about to do I’d be detained; besides that, if they found all the wands hidden in my gear, that could get me expelled.
I eventually made it through security and onto the shuttle with my carry-on intact. Once the shuttle launched I was able to relax a little. I was now safely on my way.
Then real fear started to set in. I was safely on my way all right, on my way to my death in all likelihood. Who did I think I was fooling? I couldn’t face these sorcerers! They had apparently beaten the combined force of Shadow and Flame in order to kidnap her, and all I had managed to do was make them stumble around a bit.
As I was thinking about that, the azure energy of jump space wrapped around me. It had a strange, soothing effect on me that I didn’t understand but was glad of. By the time we reentered normal space I had recovered some degree of calm, though not much.
The shuttle quickly docked at Alpha Academy’s new trade hub, and as soon as I had disembarked I made my way to the shipping docks. If the schedule Samuel had given me was right, The Star Stone would be leaving shortly from bay one. It was the only titan-class merchant vessel leaving this month, and if I missed it there’d be no way to get to Aleeryon Prime.
The trip would be fairly short since a titan-class hauler could make it in a single jump. There would just be a few hours’ travel to the jump point, then another few hours on the other side until we docked. Back before the pirates took over there were many smaller trade vessels flying along several different routes, but the smaller trade vessels needed many jumps to make the trip, which could take as long as a week or more.
“You must be Phoenix,” said an older man as I entered the launch bay.
“Yes, sir. Are you Franze?” I asked.
“None other,” he said. He looked me over, thinking a bit, then said, “I doubt you can afford my fare, and I don’t have a lot of time so move along.”
“Name it,” I said as I pulled out a credit pad.
He named a price that was way too high for the service he was offering, so I tried to negotiate some, but in the end I ended up paying nearly his full price. He must’ve suspected I was desperate because he risked walking away from an easy pile of money several times.
As I found my place to sit on The Star Stone I contemplated how upset my father would be when he found out how much of his money I had spent on this trip. He wouldn’t care at all about what I was doing, just the cost.
While waiting for the ship to launch I thought back to where I had come from. When I joined the Academy I was a stupid, fat, spoiled rich kid who happened to be the only son of a president. I was used to getting what I wanted and how I wanted it before I had even asked for it. At home, if a servant failed to make and keep me happy, he’d be fired on the spot.
Then I came to the Academy. I was forced to do the work of servants and expected to do it well. At first I couldn’t cope. A dozen times over I almost cracked, but every time someone came alongside me and lifted me up. Most of the time that person was Shadow. He was much older than I and seemed so much wiser. It wasn’t long before I started modeling myself on him.
Now he was gone, and I knew he was going after the sorcerers himself. He was no fool and must have had a plan. At that point I realized that, while Shadow might have a plan, I didn’t. I had no idea how to find him once I landed and didn’t know what I could do to help. Cold fear began to fill me again as we entered jump space, but there was no turning back.
Chapter Fifty-Five
“Commander Bill, we have a priority one distress call coming in from a merchant ship,” called out my communications officer.
“What’s their status?” I asked.
“Sounds like they are under heavy fire with boarders attempting to breach their hull,” he said. “They are within a jump of us, at the Shankar chokepoint.”
“What are they facing?” I asked.
“Hard to be sure at this range, but it looks like a cruiser ambush,” he said.
“Tactical, your assessment?” I asked.
“Sir, I doubt we can make it in time to save them, but with the pirates engaged we can counter-ambush them and probably wipe them out before they can escape,” he said.
“Then that’s what we’ll do,” I said. I really wanted to save the merchant, and smashing a pirate ambush was a major objective of mine, so I would try to do both.
I sent orders to the fleet, and we went on full alert status. It took several painfully long minutes to align the fleet for the jump.
“Sir, we lost contact with the merchant, but scans show that the battle continues,” said my comm officer.
I struggled hard not to curse; I’d been told many times it wasn’t fitting for a fleet commander, but had we received the distress beacon a few minutes sooner we might have had a chance to save them. It sure seemed to me like a justifiable time to curse. “Just get us there. There must be survivors to rescue and definitely pirates to kill,” I ordered.
My foul mood seemed to motivate the bridge crew to turn to their stations and focus on their work. I was no good at this leadership business. Now they would be on edge and more likely to make mistakes. I tried to calm myself, but I was like a caged animal waiting for the fleet to be ready to jump. There were pirates attacking my people, and I wanted nothing more than to go and put an end to it.
“Jumping now, sir,” called out my navigator. Soon the azure of jump space surrounded me and we were finally on our way. There would be about forty-five seconds after we came out of jump space before we could react, but in that time the ships’ computers deployed the fleet and began acquiring targets.
“Give them no warning and no quarter. All ships, ATTACK!” I called out as soon as I was free from the post-jump hangover. We had to win decisively and do it fast before they could get reinforcements. “Tactical, report,” I said.
“Sir, it looks like the primary merchant ship is destroyed, but her fighters are still engaged. They are fleeing at high speed but under heavy fire. I doubt that many of them will make it,” he said.
“Computer, reprioritize targets so that the ships firing on the civilian fighters have the highest priority,” I said.
I watched as my fleet pounded that of the pirates. We far outmatched this group of ships, which appeared to be carefully selected for the purpose of ambushing small merchant fleets. Our command ships, destroyers and battleships were making short work of their cruisers and drone ships.
“Sir, your strategy is working. The pirates have stopped firing on the fighters and are attempting to flee,” said tactical.
“Comm, contact those fighters and tell them to join us,” I said. I planned to offer every one of them a position in the Navy. We needed fighter pilots desperately and these men would have real combat experience, a rare trait out
here.
“Yes, sir,” he said and started working his comm controls.
“Keep pressing the pirates, but don’t follow them into the jump. I want as many of them dead as possible before they jump,” I said.
The fight was over fairly quickly; our fleet was just too much for this pirate fleet. Soon the fighters from the merchant ship were safely docked, and I gave the orders for the fleet to leave the area at best speed. The pirates still had superior forces in this sector, and if we waited around their counter-attack would be likely to overwhelm us.
“Sir, three fighters are pressing on to the jump point, but we have the rest,” said my tactical officer.
“Really? Any idea why?” I said.
“Sir, by their signatures they appear to be a wing, and it looks as if the leader’s fighter is barely holding together. It’s possible he was unable to receive our communications.”
“How long till they reach the jump point?” I asked.
“At their speed, five more minutes at most. They must really be pushing those engines hard. I’ve never seen fighters travel that fast before,” he said.
“Ask the pilots we have picked up about that wing. I want to know why they’re running,” I said. I watched the fighters on tactical as they quickly pulled away from the fleet. We could never hope to catch them at this point. It would take us a couple of hours to travel to the jump point, and by then they could have made a second jump and be unreachable.
“Sir, the pilots down here think that is Red Wing, led by a new pilot they know only as Shadow,” came a voice over my comm.
“SHADOW?” I exclaimed. It couldn’t be Flame’s Shadow. If it was, that probably meant Flame was out here, but what were they doing playing with pirates? “Tactical, find those fighters!” I ordered. Shadow was too levelheaded to be out here without good reason so something must be up, and I intended to find out what.
Chapter Fifty-Six
Once we were safely clear of the jump I said, “Thanks, guys, but you really did not have to come with me. It would have been safer for you to join the others with the Navy.”
“No way, Shadow. Your fighter has more holes in it than a wombat in a shooting gallery,” said Ben.
“Yes, you covered us back there; time to let us help you,” said Karrith. “Speaking of which, what is the plan from here?”
“I still need to make it to Aleeryon Prime ASAP, so once our jump drives are recharged we will link up and jump as far as we can get. I think we can make it to the trading hub where we can get repairs and supplies. Until then we coast at low power, make what repairs we can and hope no one sees us,” I said.
I did not know how the Aleeryon Navy showed up when it did, and I was grateful that they had come, but now I had to hide. If Bill got wind of what happened, he might do something rash. I was only playing a foolish hero; he might actually try to be one.
As we coasted, I climbed out of my cockpit into space. My flight suit would protect me from the vacuum for a long time, and a secure tether prevented me from getting separated from my Peregrine.
Ben was right; I had taken a lot of hits. I cannibalized the weapons and did the best I could to get some semblance of shielding back online. There was not much in the way of spare parts or tools on board this kind of craft, since they were designed to have as low an inertia factor as possible.
As I came around the ship I saw my biggest problem. The spatial energy collector array that was responsible for recharging the jump drives was heavily damaged. The batteries looked fine, but without the array there was no way to charge them. We were still many light years away from any help, and without the jump drive I would be long dead before I reached civilization.
I decided it was time to risk cheating. I used my powers to tap into the energy stored in the weapons array and poured it all into the jump battery array. I knew it was risky, as any use of power could be detected, especially where there was normally no use of magic, but I figured the chances were good that no one was looking my way at that moment.
Soon my weapons array was completely drained, and the jump batteries were full. It had been several hours since we jumped, and if the Navy decided to follow us they would be jumping soon. We needed to be gone before they arrived. I climbed back in the cockpit and checked the status of my wing mates. They were fully charged and ready.
“I had to bypass some safety procedures and pull power from my weapons, but I got the jump batteries charged. Let us get out of here before someone finds us,” I said.
As soon as I had both of them linked up, I activated the jump drives at maximum power, expecting it to be enough to get us within a reasonable flight of the trade hub.
As we came out of the jump, I saw that I had slightly misjudged the distance, and we came out right in a major shipping lane. Fortunately we landed in the clear, but the station’s flight controller was screaming at us. I muted him and waited until my wing had recovered from the jump then pulled us out of the shipping lanes.
After offering an apology about the jump mishap, I said over the comm to the station, “This is flight commander Shadow of the Mother Goose requesting emergency docking. Our ships are leaking atmosphere and have taken critical damage.”
“Acknowledged, Shadow. Turn controls over to station and we will bring you in,” said the flight controller. “By the way, the Aleeryon Navy reports that they picked up what is left of your flight group and destroyed the pirates who attacked you.”
I flinched at that report. That could mean the Navy was looking for me, which would not be good; however, I had no choice now but to dock. “Acknowledged, flight control. Thank you for the update.”
An alarm went off on my display, then another and another. I quickly cut power to my engines and all systems except communications. “Flight control, I am dead in the water. It appears that last jump destroyed what was left of my controls. Life support is offline,” I said.
“Acknowledged, Shadow. We are sending a tug to pull you in,” was the response.
I checked the air supply on my flight suit and was grateful to see I had several hours left. I wondered about my plan to fix this Peregrine and head on. It hardly seemed to be worth the repairs, and would likely take too long. If the Navy was coming for me I could not afford to wait.
“Red Wing, purge all logs,” I said. “I may need to disappear quickly if the Navy comes looking for me, so the less they know the better it will be for me.”
“Sure thing, Shadow,” said Karrith.
“If they question you, tell the truth. Do not take a fall on my account,” I said.
Neither of them replied to that, and I was sure that meant they would not comply with my request. I would have to ditch them fast when I got on the station; there they would be safe and could hire themselves out again.
As my Peregrine was pulled into the station, I saw navy personnel come into the bay.
“Looks like they found you,” said Karrith.
“I am not found yet,” I said. “Stall them. I have a plan, but it needs a little time.” I knew they must have been wondering why I was hiding from the Navy, but it was better they did not know as they would surely be interrogated.
As we were tied down and the bay became pressurized I began to wrap myself in power. It was rare that I used my secondary line of concealment, and I was not yet very skilled at it. It was good enough to fool a group of mundanes, though, and that is exactly what I intended to do.
As soon as all the fighters were secure, Karrith and Ben jumped out of their ships and ran over to greet the naval officers, enthusiastically thanking them for their help. I used the cover of that distraction to slip out of my fighter and behind it. Once clear of the fighter I slowly, quietly and invisibly moved around the greeting party who were just now noticing that I was not with them.
I had no choice but to physically open the door to exit the hangar, which would give me away, but I was counting on having enough of a head start to escape. I
punched the release on the door and ran out. I knew they could not see me, but they could see the door open and close. It would not be hard to guess that I had run out when they were not looking.
I felt sorry for my wing mates since they would be interrogated on my account, but I could not help that. The sooner the Navy took them in, the sooner it would be over for them. For me, it was just starting; I had to find a way to get to Aleeryon Prime without a spaceship.
Chapter Fifty-Seven
Once clear of the landing bay I quickly headed down a side corridor and then slowed down to a walk so that I could more easily maintain my camouflage spell. I had to think fast. This trip was becoming much too public now. I needed a new plan.
It would not be long now before Bill heard that I was out here, if it had not already happened. The other pilots in the fleet would give my name to the Navy, and the fact that I was missing when my Peregrine landed would be seen as very suspicious. No doubt Bill would call any contacts he had out here and start looking for me. That meant I could not just book passage to the planet, as he would easily find out.
Master Mathorn always talked about depending on the weave at times like this, when all the cards were starting to pile up against you. He would talk about times in his own life when he thought all was lost and the weave had smiled on him.
Grandmaster Vydor would say the same about the entity he called “the real god of creation.” I wondered if they were one and the same. All I knew was that the clock was ticking away our chances of getting Flame back, and I was trapped on this station. If either Vydor’s god or Master Mathorn’s concept of a benevolent weave really existed, I certainly needed their help now.
The lights in the station turned red, and an announcement came over the speakers, “Attention: everyone is to go to their quarters for immediate station lockdown. Anyone failing to comply will be arrested. Thank you.”
The Academy Page 22