by Reiter
“I can talk to Vohlterrans any day of the week,” Jocasta explained. “You’re Purdian, right?”
“You have some experience with my kind?”
“Very little,” Jocasta stated, gesticulating an even lesser standpoint. “That’s why I’m so curious. Now, let me guess, and I hope I’m not being rude here.”
“Why do I find that hard to believe?” Kesia muttered.
“Kes,” Maradothia said before Jocasta could put her eyes on the young woman. “The Captain has carried herself in a most pleasant manner. Let us remain equal to the task.
“Actually, Captain, I met Dyanko just this semester. We’re both students at Gungil College.”
“And that’s in the Galena Barony, correct?” Jocasta asked.
“Very good, Captain,” Maradothia nodded.
“I find myself within earshot of so many conversations regarding schools and majors of study these days,” Jocasta said, beaming a bright and false smile. “That makes you a Scholar, right?” Jocasta inquired, looking back at Dyanko. “One who strides with Ris,” she said, rolling the ‘R’ of the name. “Did I say that right? I know it’s a sacred rite of passage.”
“Your slight exposure to my people must have been very meaningful,” Dyanko grinned. “That is indeed the way to pronounce the word. And yes, I am one who strides wi–” Jocasta’s gun fired into the young man’s chest and he fell back out of his chair.
“A nut-crunching phony!” Jocasta whispered, noticing that the energy bolt exploded just in front of the target; he was wearing a defense screen. “CeCe, grab Kesia!” she shouted as she clicked her heels together and thrust her cane into the ground behind her chair.
“Got her,” Cilrus said as he thrust his left hand forward. His piton was launched and the young girl screamed as the anchor pierced her right shoulder.
“Dammit, why didn’t he use the gravity setting?!” Jocasta thought as she activated her cane. She hated moving this slow, but she had to wait until Kesia was on her side of the table. “Or am I assuming that he has the option? Crap! Z, get your ass back here!”
“We’re made!” one of Dyanko’s guards cried as he dropped to his knee. “Fry the suits!”
Kesia screamed again as she was snatched up and out of her chair. Energy fields activated on each of the armoured estate and entourage guards. Only Dyanko’s guards were able to move, and that was not good.
“Two can play at that game,” Jocasta thought, reminded of how her First Mate could lock machinery. She tapped the command on her brace-com and waited for the response. The delivered energy pulses, however, were too powerful and the capacitors in each of the remaining suits of power armour exploded. “Whoops!
“Heads up!” Jocasta yelled, kicking into the table. Her body shuddered and she winced in pain as the table came up from the floor, flying toward the quickly rising Dyanko and his two guards. They fell to the ground under the weight of the table.
“Kot, I’m going to feel that in the morning,” she thought as she lifted her cane, holstered her blaster, and threw her head back. Her chair fell back and she back-rolled to her feet. “That table must weigh a ton!” Jocasta quickly pulled out and donned her gloves while surveying the immediate area. Whatever had been planned, she had moved before the attackers could. She had room and time, but neither in the capacity she preferred.
“Satithe– dammit! Computer, issue armed emergency recall,” Jocasta commanded, pulling her blade from her cane. She looked around to see that Cilrus had caught Kesia. The young debutante was still screaming, but she had a pretty painful reason for her cries. “Lorana, Princess, my six, now!”
“I don’t suppose you have another blade,” Oedelorana said as she moved quickly behind Jocasta.
“Right shoulder,” Jocasta said as she tossed her sword over her right shoulder, followed quickly by the scabbard. “They work well in tandem.”
“While I’d rather not be a pest,” Maradothia started when Jocasta huffed in disgust.
“CeCe, start moving Prunth and Kesia back. See what you can do with that wall!” Jocasta commanded as she reached to her back, at the inside of her coat. “Left shoulder, Your Majesty.” She pulled her fighting daggers and tossed them over her left shoulder.
“Move boy!” Cilrus commanded. “Grab her feet!”
“What about you?” Oedelorana asked as she embraced the weight, balance and quality of the weapon she had been handed.
“This is not a pirate’s sword!” Lady Sylgarr estimated as they all heard an echoing and reverberating voice on the other side of the toppled table. In a flash of light, four more armoured men arrived as the crystal table shattered. Three started toward the women while one turned toward the door that led into the estate house, tossing a disc toward the doorway. The disc emitted an energy field that was stronger than the walls of the house; no one was getting through it too quickly.
“And that cuts off any assistance from the house,” Jocasta thought. “I hate it when people working against me look good at what they’re doing!
“It looks like my weapon is on its way here,” Jocasta said as she drew from her shoulder holster.
“I doubt a projectile gun will fare better than your blaster,” Maradothia said as she twirled the fighting daggers, finding great delight in holding the weapons. They possessed Delman weight and Olasson craftsmanship. Maradothia tapped a small gem at the center of her belt and her gown became form-fitting body armour. “But given what these blades feel like, I am sure you have your reasons!”
“Now see, after saying that, I have to start liking you!” Jocasta said softly as she called for her goggles, readying the formation of her mask, and set her gun for rapid fire. She could see Lady Oedelorana swing the blade she had been given. Two cuts were made and most of the skirt Lady Sylgarr had been wearing fell to the floor.
“Twenty seconds for wall breach,” Cilrus advised.
“He has to work slowly,” Jocasta quickly surmised as she started toward the approaching men. The first punched his gauntlets together, activating an energy field around his knuckles. “… too many friendlies in the blast area. But even ten seconds is two minutes too long!”
“This isn’t about you, woman,” the lead man warned. “Clear aside. You and your man can leave without harm.”
“You know, I can’t say I have any love for Imps either,” Jocasta replied. “But you had to go and mess with the one I respect. Sorry, chuckles, but if you wanna have a good day, get your people and clear the property. Lick your wounds and brag about the day you made a Princess piss herself!”
“We’ll be taking the Princess and the Lady Sylgarr,” the man replied, taking a combative stance. “And you’ll be pissing yourself plenty once you’re dead!”
“Deflect and pass right,” Lady Oedelorana called out as the man lunged toward Jocasta, throwing a straight left cross. Jocasta’s left hand slapped against the wrist, knocking the attack wide of her head. The armour was only protective, not powered. She twisted the man’s arm and lifted her gun, firing into the faces of the lead man and the man who was right behind him. As Maradothia had said, the individual bullets did less damage to the defense screens than her blaster. The barrage, however, jostled both men like a stiff jab.
“Mind the shock punch,” Jocasta huffed as she twisted the man’s arm to the other side of her body, bringing him into a shoulder throw. He rolled with the throw and came up to his feet, swinging for Lady Sylgarr’s face.
“Minded,” Oedelorana whispered as the cane struck the underside of the man’s arm. Lady Sylgarr stepped under the lifted arm, swinging the blade into the man’s side. As the cane maintained contact with the man, there was no defense screen to speak of and the blade cut deeply into the armour, nearly cutting flesh. The man staggered away and Oedelorana set herself for another assault.
The second man quickly recovered from being shot in the face and lowered his head, charging toward Jocasta. She left her feet and fell back, clicking her heels before lifting them up int
o the chest of the charging man. The man grunted at first, feeling the thrust of the gravity wave. He wailed as he was sent nearly straight up two meters, just missing the chandelier of the sun deck. Before he could come down, Maradothia passed under him, slashing with both daggers. Blood and bits of shattered armour flew from the man’s back and he yelled until he reached the floor. Jocasta winced as she rolled up to her feet. Her hip was really hurting now and she moved with a limp.
“Photonic,” she whispered as her knife deflected a dart that had been fired for her neck. She fired several shots for the floor near where the would-be Purdian was standing. Defense screens kept the force of the explosions from hurting them, but the floor tiles gave and Dyanko, along with his two guards and the man who had created the energy wall, fell the single meter to the true ground.
The last of the approaching men was wielding a sword and he thrust it for Jocasta’s chest. Stepping forward and using her bracer, Jocasta spun, deflecting the attack and swinging her gun for the man’s face. He ducked and stepped by Jocasta. Sparks flew as the edge of his blade ran across the tops of her bracers. Jocasta smirked before she took a lunging stride to her right. She then jumped up, clicked her heels, and stamped both feet against the man’s lifted arms.
“Step left!” Jocasta yelled as her body was sent back to Lady Oedelorana who barely stepped out of the way in time. The energy gauntlet wielder was not as fast. Jocasta’s knife plunged through the defense screen and into the chest plate of the armour. She could hear the man gasp. “Tried to warn you,” Jocasta whispered as she twisted the blade before ripping it free.
“Damn if the man didn’t warn me that the blade was very sharp!” Jocasta thought as she looked to the man’s back and could see he was lying on a weapons pack. “Hello… what do we have here?!”
The swordsman quickly recovered from the unexpected push he had received from the drop-kick and looked to press a prone opponent. Lady Sylgarr stepped into his path with her weapons at the ready. “Bit of a perplexing point, isn’t it?” she smiled. “If you’re here to kidnap me, you’ll have to use that blade. But how does one make good after kidnapping a corpse?!”
“We have regens, woman!” the man said, swinging up for her chest. The cane stopped the sword cold and Oedelorana slashed his chest twice before thrusting the sword into the man’s neck.
“And it appears you need one! Overhead, Captain!” Lady Sylgarr called out before tossing the sword and cane over her head before taking hold of the dying man’s weapon.
“Call the second wave, Master,” the man who had sealed off the house said to the Purdian whose green skin was slowly fading to a pale Terran flesh tone. He stepped back from the action and focused his thoughts, looking as if he was gathering power. But something suddenly went wrong. The man’s face twisted in surprise, pain, and fear as he looked at his hands… as they slowly turned to ice.
“Nooo!” the man wailed before he became a statue of frozen water.
“I think that will be quite enough of that,” Loranos said as he walked out from behind the afflicted InvokeR. A flick of his hand sent both guards flying to the closest walls. Hands of light formed to take hold of their arms, legs, and mouths, locking them into place. He looked to be ready to make the same power stroke against the rest of the raiders, but they were fired upon by Jocasta’s drones. Bio-electric blasts reached through their armour and stunned each combatant.
“Put a hold on that blast, CeCe,” Jocasta said as she slowly got up, her blade back in her cane and the confiscated pack over her shoulder. “Drones, my thanks. Get back to ship and plug in for recharging.”
Turning to face the young Sylgarr male, Jocasta squinted, hand-brushing the hair at the back of her neck. She then smiled and gave a blast of laughter. “Now that’s what I call an InvokeR!”
“Home-field advantage, I’m afraid,” Loranos admitted as he turned to Lady Sylgarr. “Mother?”
“I am quite all right, my son,” she quickly informed the Lord of the estate. “Your Majesty?”
“Likewise, milady,” Maradothia said, twirling the blades once more and shaking her head. “Thanks, in no small part, to our visiting pirate. What are the chances I can talk you into letting me keep these?”
“I doubt seriously it would reflect well on a princess to be caught wielding injectors,” Jocasta warned.
“These are injectors as well?!”
“That they are,” Jocasta answered, holding out her hand for her weapons. With great reluctance, the Princess twirled the weapons once more, taking them by the blades to offer them to Jocasta. “Not bad, Your Majesty.”
“You must be Captain Starblazer!” Loranos said, making an arms-open approach. His smile was bright and warm.
“Guilty as charged,” Jocasta grinned, taking hold of the young man’s wrist and thrusting the head of her cane into his stomach.
“Captain!” Oedelorana nearly shrieked as she and Maradothia started to move toward the pirate. Modified gauntlets took soft hold of their shoulders.
“Trust me, ladies,” Cilrus said as softly as he could and still be heard. “Interrupting her is not what you want to do at the moment.”
“Damn straight!” Jocasta said as she twisted Loranos’ arm. He bent forward with the leverage Jocasta applied, and she brought the head of her cane down on his extended forearm. Loranos screamed as he dropped to his knees.
All of the women shuddered at the sound of breaking bone. Cilrus’ eyes squinted and his nostrils flared. He wondered if the captain had a put a hand toward Llaz’s training. His blows were also quick, short-ranged, and surprisingly potent… despite how simple they might have appeared. “What kind of a caster with ‘home-field advantage’ allows a foreign InvokeR to cast spells against his own mother?!”
Hearing Jocasta’s inquiry robbed both Oedelorana and Maradothia of their fervor to intervene on Loranos’ behalf. The younger woman put her eyes to her elder, not knowing what to think of what she had just heard. It was a simple enough point – one that had been easily overlooked in the heat of the moment – but Jocasta’s question made incredible sense. Loranos had taken the title of Lord, and he had used the incantations woven into the estate. How could anyone else work MajiK on the estate without his permission or knowledge?
“It’s also not a common move to cover the mouth of a prisoner, genius! You’ve got more tells than a virgin in a whorehouse!
“What was it going to be, boy?” Jocasta asked, taking hold of Loranos’ hair. “You report the Princess and your mother have been abducted…” A knee lift to the face stunned the young man and Jocasta was pretty comfortable with the standpoint he would not be able to work a spell. “… but before the Imps could get their collective acts together, you’d swoop right in and save the day, eh?” Jocasta swung her cane across Loranos’ face and he fell to the floor.
“JoJo, please!” Oedelorana cried, closing her eyes to the sight. “Your next blow will call this mercenary’s sword to service once more!”
“You hear that, boy?!” Jocasta said, twirling her cane and setting herself to move. “You come clean, or I’ll have to beat the Kot out of the both of you!”
“Stop!” a young female voice cried. Everyone looked to see a distraught young girl coming from the estate house. It was Gulfrileene Sylgarr, the youngest child born to Oedelorana and Gulfrim. She had the tell-tale Sylgarr red hair atop her head and tears fell from her dazzling green eyes. “He won’t tell you, Captain, and I know you won’t stop.”
“And?” Jocasta asked, looking over her shoulder and marking Oedelorana’s position.
“They took everything when my father died!” the girl wept. “Already our name is no longer recognized at Court. They removed my father’s position on the Council of the Mage even though my brother is of age and of skill to take his place.”
“Loranos,” Oedelorana whispered, and Jocasta could hear genuine surprise in her voice. He had kept these developments away from his mother… trying to protect her from an ugly truth.
“That’s not all, Mother,” Gulfrileene said as she wiped her eyes and nose on her sleeve. “The Imperial telnet has posted a summons. Grandfather has sent for you. You are to be recalled to his estate. Your name was listed as Oedelorana Matheesa… Raynko.”
“Ouch,” Jocasta muttered as she took a step back from Loranos, her goggles returning to a choker. The fight was truly over now, and the last truth revealed was indeed a cutting one.
“Excuse me,” Maradothia said, stepping out of Cilrus’ grasp, lunging toward Kesia and landing a palm thrust to the woman’s face. Kesia’s head snapped back and the Princess landed a sharp chopping strike to the side of her neck, knocking her friend unconscious.
“Is that how you process surprises?” Jocasta asked, finding reason to be on her guard again.
“Lady Sylgarr, I trust the regenerators here can–”
“Make it so she cannot remember the last few minutes?” Oedelorana interrupted. “Yes, Your Majesty, they can.”
“Well, if we’re cutting into the witness count,” Cilrus said as he struck Prunth in the back of the head. The young man fell as Jocasta covered her face with her hand. Maradothia winced in sympathetic pain, but nodded her thanks to the gladiator before turning back to Oedelorana.
“Then they should still be recovering from that procedure while you and I address your father, Lord Raynko.”
“Your Majesty, please–”
“Forgive me, Lady Sylgarr, did I phrase that as a suggestion?” Maradothia interrupted this time. “If I did, then I misspoke. We are both children of the Imperial Court, milady. Were it not for you, I would not be a student at Gungil. I’d still be a prisoner in the Imperial Palace, becoming something like some of my siblings. What I owe you cannot be measured. So, if I must order you to let me assist you in this matter, please consider the order given.”
Lady Oedelorana curtsied with a bowed head. “It shall be as you have requested, Your Majesty. Might I see to my son before your friend?”
“At my insistence,” Maradothia replied, tapping her buckle to return to her gown and jewelry.