by Reiter
“Point made,” she admitted.
“Good. And you needn’t worry about explaining his mindwipe.” Maradothia looked back at the Scholar Purdian. “No, he has no defenses whatsoever. I just told him everything that happened. To be quite honest, he took it better than I expected.”
I have always preferred the stuff of shadow. Without it, the Light has no frame, no definition, no purpose!
Alphexeous Dragonne
(Rims Time: XII-4203.20)
The door of the simulator opened and Silnee came out of the fluid, thrashing and cussing. “No way!” she shouted. “No fucking way!”
“I’m going to take a wild guess and say she lost,” Agatha ribbed, leaning over to Feldspar.
“Quiet, Murder,” Nielsen warned, trying to make himself small. There was something about Silnee when she was angry that made the man nervous for his life. He was somewhat relieved when the Captain’s unit opened and Jocasta pulled herself up out of the fluid. Silnee was dry by the time Jocasta climbed down, and as she grabbed a towel, she braced herself for a wide range of responses.
“What the hell do you call that?” Silnee hissed.
“A win,” Jocasta answered, looking slightly confused. “What would you call it?”
“I had you,” Silnee claimed. “You were low on power, no shields, and structural damage!”
“Yeah, that was some Kot-storm of a set-up, right? Way to keep it interesting, Scamps,” Jocasta said, waving up to the control booth.
“Cool. I pulled that from the Z Files,” Obanyo explained.
“Really?! Wow, he’s all up and given you guys full access, hasn’t he?”
“I wouldn’t really say that,” Obanyo replied, “the files skip numbers, so there are a few surprises he’s keeping to himself.”
“No doubt,” Jocasta remarked, wiping the last of the fluid from her face. “I mean, I love the man, but it’s obvious he’s seen some things no living soul is supposed to endure!”
“How did you lose me in the canyon?!” Silnee stressed.
“First of all, calm down,” Jocasta said in a surprisingly soothing voice. “Secondly, you’re improving, and I’m not saying that just to make you feel good. I don’t do that. I’m saying it because from now on, I’m going to expect more out of you.
“Now, as for the canyon, you read the advisory about taking it at Mark Two, didn’t you?”
“I took it at two point zero five and damn near wrecked my bird!” Silnee stated.
“I took it at Mark Four,” Jocasta explained, and both Nielsen and Agatha closed their eyes in sympathetic pain for Silnee. “That’s damn near double your speed. Once I lost sight of you in my rear optics and the canyon opened up, I turned around and waited for you to come and get my only missile… and you damn near dodged it!”
Silnee put her fists on her hips, feeling that something was not quite right with the explanation she had received. “How the hell did you pull off Mark Four in a hampered bird?!”
Jocasta could read the young woman’s body language and she did not like what Silnee’s tone was implying, but she quickly recalled a time when the situation had been reversed and she was learning from a pilot that was her superior. If nothing else, Jocasta had promised herself she would be better than Cratchet. That woman’s style of instruction had planted more pilots than it ever improved.
“I rerouted all power to the engines, Tolip,” she said softly.
“Even life support?”
“Even life support. Look, just because you nix it, that doesn’t mean you immediately die! There’s a good three, four minutes of air left in most cockpits, including those Sabres we were flying.”
“Five point six five minutes, Captain,” Obanyo corrected.
“Scamps, you’re nowhere near blue enough to talk to me like that!” Jocasta warned.
“Uh, right, Captain,” he stammered as he thought of an appropriate response to her comment. “Ummm, how about, ‘at least five minutes’, Captain?”
“Better,” Jocasta weighed as she nodded. “Good man.”
Silnee shook her head in disagreement. “But what if after the fight you couldn’t re-initiate the circuit? You’d be dead.”
“And what, we were firing stun missiles at each other?” Jocasta asked rhetorically. “Besides, I only hit your starboard wing. There’s a good chance after you crash-landed that I’d take your air tanks and get the hell on!”
“That’s provided I don’t take you out once you’re out of your fighter,” Silnee countered.
“We’ll spar later,” Jocasta chuckled. “Right now, who’s got next?”
“That’d be me,” Nielsen said, holding up his hand.
“Where’s Siekor? I thought it was his turn to suck down some humble pie.”
“He’s doubling down on the impossible,” Agatha informed.
“Come again?”
“He’s at the range, trying to beat Mel. He traded his session with Feldspar here and me.”
“Hey, two on one, I like it!” Jocasta said as her eyes flared wide with anticipation. She waved at the control booth as she walked back toward her simulator. “Let’s make that happen. Scamps, pull up another scenario!”
“You want me to clear the handicaps, Captain?”
“Surprise me!”
Silnee folded her arms and looked at her brace-com. The young woman had time before she was to report to Maintenance. She needed a moment to wrap her head around piloting that canyon at Mark Four speeds. She went to the control booth and cued up the footage of Jocasta’s fighter.
“Son of a bitch,” Silnee spat. “She lied!”
“What?” Obanyo jumped, looking away from the control console. “She lied about her speed?”
“She sure did,” Silnee said, getting up from her seat. “She took it at five and a quarter. She was doing double my speed! And she rolled that poor thing like there was no tomorrow, alternating between thrust and lift jets to make those turns.”
“Whew!” Obanyo said, looking at the replay. “That takes mad skills.”
“That takes mad-ness!” Silnee argued, taking her leave of the booth. The three simulators were opening before she could reach the lower floor. Nielsen looked exhausted, Agatha smacked the side of the simulator in frustration, and Jocasta came out screaming.
“Woo Hoo! That was a sweet shot! C’mon… c’mooooon, you two… you gotta give me that one!”
Nielsen nodded and closed his eyes. “Yeah, Captain, that was one very good shot placement.”
Silnee looked at the readout and smiled. “I’m not sure, Murder, but from here, it doesn’t look like you did too well… plus it looks like you took less time than me and you had a wingman. Maybe we should change your name from Murder to Suicide.”
“Hey, anytime you want to go, sweet-cakes, I’m right here,” Agatha scowled before she looked over at Jocasta. “That was luck. You know that was luck.”
“You know, Murder,” Jocasta said, stressing the name as she cut her eyes over at Silnee to let her know there would be no name change. “… you could say the same thing to the guy who just won the lottery. Only trouble is, if no one buys the ticket, no one wins.”
“Meaning?!” Agatha asked, looking flustered.
“Luck is the by-product skill and persistence. If you don’t come with those two, luck never rears its head. And next time, don’t bunch your wingman so much, that way he can’t spin into you.
“Tolip, get a drone to take the work detail for you and Murder,” Jocasta commanded. “I’m going to get something to eat and then we’re going to get right back at it… the three of us! Call Llaz, Thom, and Siekor, if he’s done licking his wounds, and let them know they can join in as well. That goes triple for you, Feldspar. I want my pilots as sharp as I can get them! Gods know you people push me to new places. Might as well push back.” Both women looked excited as they watched Jocasta leave. When the doors closed, their smiles faded and they glared at each other.
“You live a little longer,
Tolip,” Agatha warned.
“Don’t kid yourself, Murder,” Silnee countered. “She didn’t give you a stay of execution. It was a delay of execution!”
Jocasta stood against the railing of the catwalk as the lights in her immediate area momentarily dimmed once more. She blew out cigaro smoke, gazing at the wall that had been marked NHB in bright yellow letters. Dungias was not aboard the Xara-Mansura, but she could hear work going on beyond the barrier. It was a very tempting thing, to take a look behind the partition. She knew that if she gave the order, she would have her way. Z denied her very little, and perhaps it was that consideration which gave her pause. She put the cigaro to her lips and enjoyed the quiet moment. She had taken in a very agreeable meal – there was a good chance she was going to promote Roc, but she had no idea what that rank it would be – and she had given what the participants called a master class on general flight in both atmospheric and non-atmospheric conditions, flat-hatting, and dog-fighting tactics. For the sake of time, she had made it purely academic, giving her the opportunity to cover more subject matter which they could run in the simulators on their own time. Silnee had even remembered what Jocasta had overlooked, that Deolun was now a pilot of distinction. He was the master of the Trident and needed to be in class just as much as anyone else.
Five days into their voyage to the Onyx Barony, she had played cat & mouse with a number of baronial ships. Each time she dropped her stealth field and made a transmission, it was not long before she started receiving alerts on the long-range scanners. Jocasta had pressing business in The Territories, but she did not feel the need to make haste to drop off the Prism Passion. It was a rare moment where she was allowed to play the role of a teacher, instructing her crew on ship operations, and they learned by doing, evading several of the ship groups without even using the stealth field generator.
“Most of those transmission requests are just ploys to get me to drop field and show myself,” she thought. “I wonder when I’ll let them in on the fact I don’t have to do that in order to communicate. Bah, this is too much fun, and the crew is coming together… for the most part. Still, even toying with the foolish can be taken out of moderation. It’s time to get back to business!
“Centerpointe,” she called into her brace-com. “… you’re on the computer now, right?”
“Uh, I sure am, Captain. Nice memory!”
“Helps to have a good one,” Jocasta commented, blowing out her smoke. “What’s the word on finding a buyer for the Passion?”
“It’s not confirmed, but it looks as if the Baron himself has shown interest. He left word on when we could make contact with him and–”
“Ready the equipment to open a channel,” Jocasta commanded as she slid the cigaro into the holding bin.
“Man, that never gets old,” she thought as a small bit of smoke escaped the housing. Jocasta fixed the lapel of her coat and adjusted the collar.
“I’m on my way to the Bridge,” she said before closing the channel from her brace-com. She looked at the barrier once more. The lights dimmed again, as if on cue, and she smirked. “Soon,” she whispered before walking over to the lift pole. The ride up did not take any longer than normal, but Jocasta was already in a reflective mood, so it seemed to her like the world moved a little slower. It gave her time to think, time to plan, and she was smiling by the time she reached the deck for the Bridge.
“What do we have, Centerpointe?” she asked.
“I think we might have caught him at a bad hour, Captain,” Deolun explained. “It’s about four in the morn–”
“Did you also take the man’s temperature before you wiped his ass?” Jocasta asked frankly.
“No, Captain, I didn’t.”
“Then recognize we are exceptional people offering something incredibly exceptional!” Jocasta stated. “People make exceptions for the exceptional, Pointe. That’s why they came up with the word.”
“Opening a channel now, Captain,” Deolun announced with a very proud smile on his face.
“That’s more like it,” Jocasta remarked. She looked up at the screen to see a woman’s face form on the screen. “Comely little wench,” Jocasta commented, looking over at Deolun who looked slightly nervous that the channel was connected and the woman had heard every word the Captain had said. “Not really my taste though. Stick’s way too far up the ol’ fudgey wis-way. No flexibility. Not that I have anything against fudge per se. Still, the two of us would make a damn fine mocha, wouldn’t we, Pointe?”
“You get all of that from an image?” Thandace asked, watching Jocasta from the connected vid channel and folding her arms. “You are good!”
“And what are the chances that you’ll never know just how good, sweetheart?” Jocasta fenced as she turned her back to the screen. “Now bounce along and fetch me the man you’re supposed to impress in that dress.”
“Are you referring to my brother, the Baron?” the woman asked and Jocasta winced slightly.
“Yeah, that’d be the one,” Jocasta quickly answered without missing a beat. “Didn’t know the Baron swung that way. But hey, I don’t judge. From this end of the viewport, I can say the man has high standards.”
“Do you know what time it is here?” Thandace Orgen asked.
“Don’t know, don’t care,” Jocasta replied. “The Prism Passion’s timepiece is offline at the moment.”
Thandace rocked back on her heels as her eyes squinted. “Interesting topic of discussion. But mentioning the name of that ship doesn’t make you the one who–”
“No, your high-ass, it makes me the only one… especially if you’re in the market. Trouble is, from my end, you’re not the one I need… so what are we going to do about that?”
“I’ll say one thing for you, lady: you’ve got enough bravado to choke a Bralkyian Swamp Beast!”
“Bralkyian Swamp Beasts should practice with big carrots,” Jocasta returned. “… it helps get you over the gag reflex... and improve your eyesight. Now are we done mincing words? Because I got a hot rocket in my hangar pocket and it’s ready to fire. If your brother’s not interested, I’m sure I can get an interested party with next to no effort.”
Thandace unfolded her arms, placing one hand on her hip and the other on the console. “You’ve got a mouth on you, and I have to admit this is one of the more interesting conversations I’ve had around here in some time. But I’m going to need proof of possession before I wake up my brother.”
“Route an image to the woman, Pointe,” Jocasta commanded as she took out her cigaro. It had been a mistake to ever put it out. She lit it as Deolun finished entering his commands.
“Image and scanner readings sent,” Deolun reported.
Thandace received the transmission and quickly looked at the data. Her left eyebrow lifted as her head tilted to the right.
“Hmmm, she’s probably ambidextrous, or seriously working at it,” Jocasta observed.
“Well, you either know a great deal about the Prism Passion – enough to forge scanner records – or you actually have it.”
“Either way, it should rate me a wake-up,” Jocasta said as she sat on the edge of the console, puffing on her cigaro. “And don’t bother asking me to wait. You do anything besides getting the Baron and you might as well say goodbye to me and the Passion.”
“You seem to be in a hurry,” Thandace said, feeling the pirate out.
“I seem to be a woman who doesn’t have to wait to speak to a buyer,” Jocasta quickly corrected. “Look, you’re clearly having some personal issues. You take care and–”
“I’ll go and wake up the Baron,” Thandace interrupted.
“Better haul ass, missy,” Jocasta said, reaching for the controls on her brace-com. “I’m clearing off this channel in sixty seconds… night-night.” The screen went black and Deolun turned in his chair to look at her. “Do we have a floor plan of the Baron’s place? I want to see how fast she is.”
** b *** t *** o *** r **
“Dammit!
” Thandace said as the image faded.
The Communications Officer turned to face the woman. “Madam Orgen, do you want to–”
“Ready a line from my brother’s chambers!” Thandace shouted as she bolted from the control room.
“Teo, are you with me?” she projected as she ran. Sending out her thoughts to find his mind, she came to know his location. He was close; he was always close, and once again she needed him.
“I am always with you, Sister,” the simiate replied, and she could hear his scurrying feet on the rooftop of the house.
“Good, because I could use some wings right now,” Thandace thought, running from the side corridor onto a main corridor that over-looked the courtyard. Teo reached the edge of the roof a stride after she jumped over the railing two floors beneath him. She pushed off from the railing, diving out over the courtyard. His leap was a push for the ground and he flew down diagonally, his arms pressed against his sides as he flew head first toward Thandace’s back.
As the two drew close, Teo’s form became smoke and wrapped around Thandace’s and she softly gasped at the familiar sensation. The rush of his exuberance bonding with hers’; the delight of having her consciousness taken to a higher level. Thandace Orgen emerged from the smoke in her gargoyle form. Her powerful black, feathered wings flapped once and her descent was arrested. She snarled, feeling the surge of strength and power coursing through her body. She flew over the courtyard and climbed to the balcony of her brother’s Recovery Chamber. She had stalled the pirate as long as she had dared, but she knew of Quordion’s desire to possess the Prism Passion, given the way the barony had lost it so many years ago.
“I can feel him, Sister,” Teo projected through their living bond. “He is not yet fully recovered, but his life is no longer in danger.”
“It will have to be enough,” she snarled, her voice much lower and definitely more powerful as it echoed over the estate. “His chamber is warded against forced entry.”
“But it is one with the sceadu,” Teo replied, lending his power to Thandace’s direction. The streaking gargoyle struck the outer wall, exploding in a cloud of black smoke. It was the same black smoke that rose from the floor inside the protective wall, forming into a very anxious woman and her simiate companion who jumped to the wall as she approached the bed in which the Baron slept.