StarFlight: The Prism Baronies (Beyond the Outer Rim Book 2)

by Reiter

  “I may not be the best with computers, but I know what needs power and why. Okay, we’ve bypassed the security circuit. It thinks it’s locked everything down, and the moment it reads power going to the engine, there’s a good chance it will call for help. Is everyone aboard?”

  “Door’s secured,” Xaedra advised. “We’re ready to fly!”

  “Say no more.” Jocasta set the automatic cycle for launch and gave herself fifteen seconds. She went back to the side door and loaded her last charge into her clutch. She then dropped a plasma grenade – set to a thirty-second countdown – into the clutch and tossed it off the ship. She ran back to the controls and called for maximum speed from the maneuvering thrusters.

  “We’re going a little fast, “ Thandace noted. “Aren’t we?”

  “Don’t worry, Thandie, it goes faster.” As the passengers leaned and tried to drive with their silent wishes and butt muscles, Jocasta piloted the ship out of the bay and down the launch tube. The engines engaged and alarms buzzed all about the cockpit.

  “What’s that?!” Xaedra asked, looking around.

  “We’re not cleared for launch,” Hansel explained. “The guide-track fields aren’t in place. If we scrape the edge we could crash!”

  “Let me tell you about ‘if’ and ‘could’,” Jocasta said as she fired the boosters normally used to achieve breakaway speed from a planet. She lost her smile as she took a tight hold of the controls. “… and let’s not forget their partner in crime: ‘might’. They can all kiss me at the crack!”

  The ship emerged from the launch tunnel along with a powerful concussive wave that rocked the ship and caused primary power to fail for a brief moment. Jocasta called up the rear optics and she could see fire coming from the launch tunnel.

  “Whoa, was that only the effect of the plasma grenade?” she thought as she corrected the ship’s course. “With everything that was in the bay… it might have caught fuel pods or capacitors, power feeds… any number of things.” Without warning, she could see a ripple pass over the side of the facility. “Good gods!” Nearly two-thirds of the platform shuddered before literally twisting around the hangar bay. Before it could unwrap itself, the twisted sections exploded away from the superstructure, creating some sort of vacuum point that the dislodged sections of the station were sucked into. Jocasta was able to maintain control of the ship as she cried out in fascination.

  “Damn if that didn’t make the stars piss themselves!” she cried. “Okay, that’s what Z meant by catastrophic. Good to know!”

  “What was that?” Thandace asked, holding tightly on to Teo and the co-pilot console.

  “I think the clinical term for that back there would be ‘field test’,” Jocasta replied as she looked at the console. “Can anyone tell me where the hell we are? I see the blackness, but where are the stars?”

  “We’re in one of the coves of the slip-stream,” Hansel answered.

  “I’m sorry, did you say the slip-stream?” Quordion asked.

  “Yes, Lord Baron,” Hansel barely managed to respond.

  “You mean the so-called passageway of Tween-Space…” Quordion turned and walked out of the cockpit. He leaned against the wall just outside the cockpit door. Jocasta watched him leave and she looked at Thandace who appeared to know something of what was being discussed.

  “Times like this I really hate being a newb to the region!” Jocasta thought.

  “Thandie, you mind letting Slim there have that chair?”

  “Not in the least, Captain,” Thandace said, quickly moving and smiling warmly at Hansel.

  “Good lord,” Jocasta thought as she sighed, watching Thandace move. The woman’s toned body was always a delight to look upon, and Jocasta appreciated her view. “Coming and going!”

  “It’s called the slip-stream,” Hansel repeated. “… a network of tunnels running through The Territories. You can’t see them from outside, and it takes a certain kind of energy burst to open the draft-holes. I’ve never heard where they came from or what made them… all I know is that it shortens the distance you have to travel to get from one barony to the other.”

  “What?!” Jocasta barked.

  Hansel smiled as he approached the navigations computer. “Where do you want to go?”

  “The Onyx Barony,” Jocasta answered. She watched as Hansel keyed in the destination and a course projection appeared on her monitor.

  “There’s your course,” Hansel stated. “And at our present speed, we’re nine hours out. Provided we don’t run into anything.”

  “Like what?” Jocasta asked, looking over with concern on her face.

  “Some pretty ugly things make their home here,” Hansel answered as he checked the scanner to see that it was functional. “Lasers tend to just make them mad, and they love picking their teeth with ship hulls. But this is one of the FM’s personal launch boats. She’s got some speed to her.”

  “And I will see to it that we are not detected while we are in these tunnels,” Quordion said. “If someone could show me to the center of the ship.”

  “Baron, what are you going to do?”

  “You forget my touch with shadows, Captain,” Quordion replied. “This ship is not too large for me to cover, but you might have to slow down. There’s not much I can do with bright burning flames coming out of the ass-end of the ship.”

  “Say no more,” Jocasta said, easing back on throttle. “Think you can handle that?”

  “I will let you know,” Quordion replied as Hansel told Xaedra where to take the Baron.

  It took the better part of fifteen minutes for the two to get where they were going and get settled, but Xaedra finally called up to the cockpit. She reported they could go a bit faster and Jocasta adjusted the velocity of the ship to where Quordion’s shadow could cover. Hansel looked at the computer and reported that they were sixteen hours from their destination but, as they were coming from outside the Garnet Barony, they were making excellent time. Jocasta gave no argument, she wanted to put her mind to memorizing the star charts in the nav-com.

  “How did this FM find this place?” Jocasta asked. “And what the hell does FM mean anyway?”

  “You’ve never heard of the Field Marshal?” Thandace asked.

  “Are you referring to Field Marshal Uhnveer Plarzo?!” Jocasta asked and the Baron’s sister nodded to the affirmative. Jocasta’s throat grew tight for a moment, but she breathed steadily and nodded. What had been done was done, she could not undo it. “FM! And I thought it was bad when they called him the Silver Sabre!”

  “You do know him!” Thandace exclaimed.

  “I know of him,” the pirate quickly clarified. “The woman who taught me a good bit about what it is to be a pirate… she crossed blades with him once. She had five ships, he had three… she escaped with one hobbling shuttle and a jury-rigged regen that nearly burned out its circuits keeping what crew she had left alive. She said it was almost two years before she had another ship of her own. A hard two years, but she found herself a Scimitar, so it wasn’t all bad!”

  “A female pirate who fought the Field Marshal?!” Thandace pressed. “You sailed with Rouge!”

  “I was a pilot in one of her attack wings,” Jocasta smiled, reflecting on the time she had spent with the woman. “I got as far as commanding that wing… for all of two missions.”

  “And?”

  “And I think we’ve stumbled across one of her ladyship’s vices,” Jocasta chuckled, resting the back of her head against the chair.

  “I apologize. That was rude of me to push.”

  “Not at all, Thandie. We’ve been through busted abduction attempts, you and I. Long story short, I had my own idea on how to get things done. Those ideas didn’t coincide with hers. My approach was just as effective, mind you. Hers was safer for some of the not-so-insane pilots.

  “But it didn’t have any flare!” Jocasta said, waving her hands about. “In the end, she told me to fly her way or find my own ship. That’s the day I starte
d looking. Sure did love being on that ship.”

  “Her loss, our gain,” Thandace said, placing her hand on Jocasta’s forearm.

  “Hey, what did I tell you about the touching?”

  “We have the better part of sixteen hours,” Thandace said as she stood up from the seat behind the co-pilot position. “Why don’t you come and tell me in detail what you meant.” Thandace turned and walked out of the cockpit and Jocasta watched her walk out. The woman was out of eye-shot when Jocasta’s eyes drifted over to Hansel.

  “Don’t look at me,” he quickly said. “I’m not the one she was talking to! This is FM’s ship, it’s got a scrambler that I’ve got going. You just need to have one wherever we’re going.”

  “I think I might be able to dig one up, Hans,” Jocasta said as she stood up, walked over to the slender man and kissed him on the top of his head. Her brace-com received coordinates and the pirate sent back: Just a moment.

  “You’re a find, Hans,” Jocasta declared. “I’m not going to play fair in trying to keep you!”

  “Aye-aye, Captain.”

  Jocasta managed to keep her smile while walking to where the coordinates led her. The first thing to hit her was the scent of the oils in the bathwater, and it was nothing short of heavenly. Approaching from the corner of the room where she had disrobed, Thandace walked slowly but gracefully. The candlelight put her dark brown skin in the perfect light, and Jocasta had to shake her head. “I am so out of my league,” she thought, removing her body armour. “But, she’s going to have to prove it!”

  Thandace carefully stepped down into the steaming bath and she sighed as the warm water took in her feet, legs, hips, back, shoulders and neck. “Hmmm, the water’s fine!”

  “No, what’s in the water is fine,” Jocasta corrected.

  “Let’s leave stations at the door, JoJo. I promise that they will be there when we’re done.” Jocasta made no verbal reply. She took off her clothes and waded into the hot water. To the surprise of both women, she found that she liked the sensation.

  “If you’re surprised, why would you make it so damn hot in the first place?”

  “We both knew you were getting in the water,” Thandace answered, taking hold of Jocasta’s hands. “I was hoping it would take longer.” Touching her lips to the center of Jocasta’s left palm caused the pirate to close her eyes, surprised at how the softness of another woman’s lips stirred her.

  One thing that both women knew: this moment was going to be different. It would not be rushed, nor would the passion resemble anything animalistic. Light and dark bolts of silk were intertwining, and they would explore every nuance of each other at their own speed. Jocasta had never been in the presence of such a knowledgeable, considerate, and patient lover. They took turns bathing one another, washing each other’s hair, massaging medicinal oils into the more tense muscles and scented oils into the skin. Jocasta was amazed with woman’s muscle tone, and Thandace had not expected Jocasta to feel so soft and strong in the same stride.

  Passion rose and fell, ebbed and flowed, sending wave after wave of ecstasy through their bodies and minds. The two women talked and laughed, wrapped in large towels, sharing a cigaro Thandace found in the Field Marshal’s stores. When the candles had consumed their wicks, the room drew dark, but not before brown eyes met blue and one last embrace was engaged.

  Make no little plans; they have no magic to stir men’s blood and probably themselves will not be realized.

  Daniel Burnham

  (VIII)

  (Rims Time: XII-4203.23)

  Even with the means by which she propelled herself through space, Tolarra was treated to a very impressive view of the Cosmos. She passed through solar systems, whisked by nebulae, stars being born, others bursting in their very last light. It was a cavalcade of light and life, constantly spinning and stirring upon itself in various endings and beginnings. Through them all, the Star Lark sped by, her destination drawing closer with every passing moment.

  “Are you enjoying yourself?” Freund projected, surprising Tolarra. She was able to maintain her form and general direction, quickly correcting her path as she focused on her thoughts.

  “Baby, is that you?!” she thought.

  “You sound surprised,” Freund remarked after a moment. “I am supposedly something of a phenomenal mind, you know.”

  “You don’t have to tell me,” she returned. “But it’s not your mind I’m missing right now.”

  “Focus, woman!” Freund directed, but it was easy to feel his elation.

  “I’m noticing a bit of a delay here,” she commented. “Just what are you doing to make this happen? I thought I was beyond your range!”

  “The delay is unavoidable with the particular warp you are moving through,” Freund answered. “And I’ll be hanged before I give up all of my secrets. Put in some humanity-guarding entity time and we’ll talk.

  “Speaking of some of the tricks I’ve learned, I have one for you. You should try to create your own wormhole. All you need is a beginning and ending point.”

  Tolarra came to a stop with light surrounding her body at such a brightness that it would be a simple matter to mistake her for a star. “Uh, babe, I’m pretty sure my powers don’t come with a built-in coordinates map! How the hell am I supposed to get an ending point?!”

  “You forget the power of the soul,” Freund answered, and Tolarra shook her head.

  “This man’s had way too much alone time!” she muttered.

  “I have the connection I made with Neve,” Freund advised, “… and therefore I have Stewart Campbell as he is… and more importantly… as he was!”

  “Baby, what’s wrong?” Tolarra asked, feeling her touch with Freund beginning to fade.

  “He has been distracted,” the castle projected. “But the Master was able to give me the two reference points you will need. Farewell, Star Lark.”

  “Castle!” Tolarra called out, knowing the connection had been severed. “There are times when that stone block secretary gets on my nerves! Dammit!” Her opal eyes looked on the way she had come just before she received the knowledge of the two points of reference, as well as the information Freund had collected over the years regarding wormholes. It was not going to be a simple feat to create one. While the theory was sound, there were a number of variables involved, any one of them going foul could lead to her not only missing Sol, but taking herself to a place where her bearings might be lost. There was even the possibility of slipping into another dimension. Freund had visited hundreds of them in his time, and he would be the first to admit that he had yet to sample their true numbers.

  “What if he needs me?!” she thought. “Right, because the thousands of years he was doing this job before you were even born mean nothing right now. He gave you a job to do, Tolarra. Do you know how many people he trusts to do something for him? Far as you know, the only other person that shares that stage is his daughter. And in her case, I’m not sure she wasn’t just following orders. Get to it!”

  Tolarra closed her eyes and started generating what she thought would be the amount of power she would need to begin the wormhole construction. She also had her body begin drifting to the closest dying star, thinking that its last light might be of some use to her cause.

  “I will have you know I was having a very delightful conversation,” Freund remarked as his body settled to the floor. The place he had chosen to meditate and focus his ThoughtWill was not exclusively his, but the number of those who knew of its existence was incredibly short. The number shrank in regards to those who knew how to enter that place. The harmony had been shattered, but Freund had been advised what his castle had done in his stead, so he could put his full attention to the matter at hand.

  “Do you believe I possess the first concern as to whom you were speaking?!” Cak’s voiced boomed as he appeared in the chamber along with Freund.

  “This cannot be happening,” Freund wondered as a smile formed across his face. “It’s not my birthday
or anything! I cannot say that I’ve even been especially good!

  “You should be concerned,” Freund replied, feeling the presence of more than one Star in this nexus of ThoughtWill.

  “And he brought Poma and Boj with him!” the blind entity thought. “This cannot be happening!

  “You are a Star after all,” Freund continued as Cak made a very slow approach. “Shouldn’t you at least care for what your light shines upon? And forgive me if you take this as an insult, but you’ve looked better. Now, I say that for two reasons: one, because it’s the truth and two…” Cak frowned, taking hold of Freund’s robes at his chest. With great ease, the Star lifted the entity from the floor. “Why don’t we get back to number two later?” The burned out eye-sockets in Freund’s head came alive with ThoughtWill. Bright golden light flared as Freund took hold of the forearm of the offending hand. Cak shuddered the moment physical contact was made. Freund’s body was slowly lowered to the floor as Cak’s body began to bend at the knees. “For it’s clear, even to this blind man, that you are in sorrowful need of a refresher course. Let us start with a question. What is the definition of the word ‘cosmos’?”

  Cak groaned in pain and Poma came through the wall of the chamber, flying to the aid of her Chorus brother. Her flight path came to a halt as Freund’s hand took ownership of her face. Still above the floor of the chamber, she screamed, grasping at the wrist of the hand that had imprisoned her in a most painful thought.

  “Now, if you were to answer ‘the world or universe regarded as an orderly, harmonious system’, then you’d have the common mortal concept, which is a very good beginning.

  “RARRR!” Freund roared as Boj started to make his entry into the chamber. The cry of Freund triggered a reaction, and the wall Boj was phasing through shifted to an energy that locked the Star’s body in strife! Cak’s groan became a wail of agony, and Freund smirked. “I doubt this is what was meant when the term ‘Chorus’ was applied to your conglomerate. Or to put it simply: needs work, people!