“This has the fingerprints of ‘the One’ all over it,” Richard said in a harsh voice. “There’s no way the ComSec computer on Veturna coordinated an inter-planetary project of the scope you are talking about on its own. I’m betting even the Empire’s central computer would be hard pressed to keep such a project secret. I mean, where did the finances come from? Veturna doesn’t have those kinds of resources? Neither does the Empire, at least not by itself. The wars during the last couple of decades have brought the Empire to near financial ruin. But forget about all that for now. Interesting as all this may be to Nick, I’d like to know how it affects us right here, right now. First off, you don’t know if there is a gate here, Dren, you’re just guessing. Second, you admitted yourself you can’t build the device here, so what’s it matter? Third, even if you had the device, how would you use it to close this possibly non-existent gate? The device is probably some huge monstrosity that requires special lift equipment to even move. And finally, you said it would take an R12 planetary-core energy generator to run it. Unless I missed the briefing, I seriously doubt there’s one on this planet.”
Richard stopped his tirade and waited for someone to answer. As he waited, he saw Dren’s shocked look change. Her eyes watered. She did not cry, but Richard could see her lower lip quivering. He was suddenly reminded that he was not talking to an adult. While she might have her mother’s memories, she was still a twelve year old girl. Richard was ashamed. Dren and Brachia had offered to share a secret with him that had cost their parents’ lives. His dislike for ‘the One’ had caused him to overreact.
“Dren,” Richard said in a softer voice. “I’m sorry. Honest. Please forgive me. Anything to do with ‘the One’ just has a tendency to upset me and make me lose my temper. I apologize. But, I do think my points are valid. How does this information help us?”
Dren turned away, but she did not walk away. Richard got the impression she was trying to compose herself.
“Sometimes, you’re mean, Rick,” said Brachia.
“It’s alright, Brachia,” said Dren who had turned back around. “But, you should try to be nicer, Rick. You’re not the only one with problems, you know.”
“I know, Dren,” Richard said using his most apologetic voice. “I said I was sorry.”
“Fine,” said Dren. “Apology accepted; this time.”
“Thank you,” Richard said.
“Anyway,” said Dren, “The reason all this is important is that the completed gate device was left on that planet in the Tresoris sector. What makes this truly important is that my mother’s memories of that world is that the population of the entire planet was devoted to maintaining massive warehouses full of all sorts of equipment. What struck her as strange about the whole setup was that all the warehouses were connected together with a complex system of teleport devices. Her memories, which are now mine, are ones of amazement in the vast scope of the equipment in the warehouses and the storage and retrieval systems. As far as she could tell, every item of equipment in every warehouse could be teleported to a central set of tele-pads connected to the R12 planetary-core energy generator. She believed those central tele-pads were capable of conducting remote teleports to any point in our galaxy. She also thought they were capable of teleporting to our sister dimensions.”
“I can see why Rick believes ‘the One’ is involved with all of this,” said Nickelo. “What you have described would certainly explain how Rick’s dimensional pack works. It would also explain how he gets teleported around.”
“That’s what I was thinking,” said Dren. “I was also thinking that since the gate device was left on that planet, it may be stored in one of the warehouses. In which case, you may be able to summon it with your dimensional pack.”
“How big is it?” Richard said. “If it’s the size of a house, it won’t do us any good.”
“Mother’s memory of it is of a thin tube about the length of your forearm,” said Dren. “It would be easy to carry.”
“What about an energy source?” said Nickelo. “I don’t believe it’s possible to run equipment remotely no matter how sophisticated the teleport equipment is.”
“No,” said Brachia. “It couldn’t. That is the flaw in the system. Even if Rick could successfully summon the gate device, we would have to find some energy source capable of running it.”
“Well,” Richard said. “I guess we had an interesting little talk, but that’s about the extent of it for right now. Besides, we don’t even know for sure we can find this gnome. Or if we do find her, if she is the ‘her’ mentioned in our mission.”
“Rick,” said Nickelo, “sometimes you’re too pessimistic. I’m just a computer, and even I’m a little hopeful. Dren, Brachia…, I think you have given us some useful information. Rick and I won’t let your parents’ trust down. If the opportunity comes to use your information, we will certainly do so. Right, Rick?”
“Uh, yeah,” Richard said. “Sure.”
Chapter 14 – Ruins and Ambush
____________________________________
“Brachia,” Richard said, “what altitude do you have the drone at?”
Richard had let Brachia take responsibility for the drone even though Nickelo could have done it. Richard thought the boy seemed to need something to do. Richard was finally getting used to have Brachia talk and act like a typical six year one minute, and then converse like an adult the next. He wasn’t sure he would ever be totally used to it, but it was starting to seem more normal the longer he was around the child.
“I have it at two thousand meters right now, Rick,” said Brachia. “There were clouds higher up. We were only getting thermal, sonic, and radiation readouts. I like pictures from the normal video better. Was that all right? Did I do something wrong?”
“No, of course not,” Richard said. “You’re doing a great job. I was just wondering if you could get more magnification on the video. I see the ruins, but I can’t tell if anyone is there.”
“I can do that, Rick,” said Brachia excitedly. “See?”
Sure enough, the video on Richard’s heads-up display zoomed in on a scattered set of stones in a small valley about five hundred meters to the left side of the road. They were still about two kilometers from the point where they would need to leave the road.
“Nick,” Richard said. “Doesn’t that look like a couple of children there in the ruins?”
“I doubt they’re children, Rick,” said Nickelo. “If you look closely, you’ll see one of them has a white beard. Based upon information in my databanks, I’d say we’ve found a couple of gnomes. Whether they are the right gnomes or not, I can’t say.”
“Hey, that’s funny,” said Brachia. “What if it was a child with a white beard? I want a white beard. No, wait,” Brachia laughed. “I want Dren to have a white beard.”
“You’d better concentrate more on flying the drone,” said Dren, “and less on white beards. You almost crashed it once, remember?”
“Did not,” said Brachia.
“That’s enough, you guys,” Richard said. “Can you get audio from that high up, Brachia?”
The previous day, Dren and Brachia had asked Richard to summon some audio equipment. Once he’d done so, Brachia had landed the drone, and the children had installed the new equipment on the drone.
“No, Rick,” said Brachia. “We’d need to bring it down to under a thousand meters. I’d recommend against going lower in daylight. Someone might notice it. My Daddy thought the audio sensors in drones were more useful at night.”
“Can you risk an active scan now, Rick?” said Dren. “Or, can you use the battle helmet’s electronics to do a scan?”
“What do you think, Nick,” Richard said. “It’s going to be dark in a few minutes. I’m not getting anything useful from my passive scan other than verifying two lifeforms are at the ruins.”
“I think we’re going to have to risk it, Rick,” said Nickelo. “We haven’t seen anyone for over a day. If you set up the act
ive scan, I can take control, with your permission of course. I can also supplement your scan with the battle helmet’s electronics. ”
“I think that’s the best approach, Nick,” Richard said. “I’m still not that good at long-range active scans. I have the active scan ready, Nick.”
“Okay, Rick. I’m starting the scan now. Follow along with the scan, please. You may sense something I don’t.”
Ah, Richard said privately with a laugh. Are you finally admitting I can do something better than you?
Not hardly, Rick, said Nickelo. Until we get our shared space, I’m not able to fully analyze the data. We’ll be a lot better team at running active scans with a shared space.
You know, I’m getting tired of hearing how much better it will be when we get our shared space.
“Stop that, you guys,” said Dren. “You said you weren’t going to do that anymore.”
“Sorry, Dren,” Richard said. “We were just coordinating the active scan.”
“Well,” said Dren, “have you found out anything yet?”
“Not yet, Dren,” Richard said. “Nick’s trying to be real careful. If one of those people at the ruins is the gnome high priestess, she might not take kindly to being probed. I know I wouldn’t.”
“Me either,” said Brachia. “Neither would Omar.”
As Nickelo continued to guide the active probe around the perimeter of the ruins, Richard and the children kept walking at a brisk pace. Brachia was again walking about twenty meters ahead. He had picked up another stick somewhere and was dragging it in the dirt leaving a trail in the loose dirt.
“Why do you have to drag that stupid stick in the road?” said Dren. “You look ridiculous.”
“I’m leaving a path for the rest of the pirates,” said Brachia. “But some of them must have gotten ahead of us. It looks like they crossed the road here.”
Richard came instantly alert.
“What’s that?” Richard said as he sprinted forward to stand beside Brachia.
“See Rick?” said Brachia as he proudly pointed a few meters off to the left side of the road. “Wow. Some of those pirates have big feet.”
Richard looked at the point indicated by the boy. Sure enough, he could see a conglomeration of footprints in a small patch of bare dirt in the knee-high grass.
“Look at the road,” said Dren who had joined them. “It looks like someone tried to brush the tracks on the road away to hide them.”
“Brachia,” Richard said. “Have the drone do a circle around the ruins. Use every piece of equipment it’s got; video, sonic, thermal, radiation, and audio. Bring it down lower if you need to. Concentrate on the area between this point and the ruins.”
“Okay, Rick,” said Brachia as he threw his stick away. “Nothing’s showing up on video. There’s nothing with sonic or thermal either.”
“Nick,” Richard said. “Are you getting anything with the active scan or your electronic sensors?”
“Only those two lifeforms at the ruins,” said Nickelo. “Both of them are magic users of some type. One is a female. She has a very large Power source. I’m also sensing an erratic Power source at her location. I think it’s something she’s carrying.”
“Is anyone around the ruins?” Richard said. “Maybe the creatures who made these tracks are wearing camo suits or something similar.”
“I was concentrating on the ruins,” said Nickelo. “I haven’t checked the vicinity around it yet.”
“Rick,” said Brachia. “I see something with the drone’s radiation sensors.”
Richard concentrated on his heads-up display. Sure enough, there was an indistinct blob of something located halfway between the road and the ruins. Another indistinct blob appeared to be on the far side of the ruins.”
“What are they?” said Dren. She had gone to stand by her brother and was looking at the display on Brachia’s handheld controller.
“Nick,” Richard said. “Move our scans back to that blob between the ruins and us. We need to know what it is.”
Although he didn’t know for sure, the situation had all the makings of an ambush to Richard. He pulled off his dimensional pack and traded his M63 for an M12. He felt a little Power leave his reserve. Next, he pulled out two sets of modern night-vision goggles and gave them to Dren. His Power reserve dropped even more. He hated to waste the Power on modern goggles, but all of his senses were warning him of danger. He needed the kids to have the best equipment possible in spite of the Power loss.
“Are you leaving us?” Dren said with a concerned look on her face.
“I’m not sure yet, Dren,” Richard answered as he concentrated on his heads-up display. “Nick, where’s the results of those scans. I’m getting nothing with my passive scan. I need information.”
“Give me another thirty seconds, Rick,” Nickelo answered. “It’s not as easy as you apparently think. If those blobs are enemies, I don’t want them to know we are present until absolutely necessary. Just hold your horses, Rick. I’ll have the information for you shortly.”
Since there were no horses around, Richard assumed the reference was one of his battle computer’s quaint sayings. Richard didn’t waste time worrying about it. He did a function check on his phase rod and also made sure the M12 was fully loaded. He chambered a 20mm grenade into the launcher and put a replacement round in the empty spot in the magazine.
Looking around, Richard spotted a thick set of brush about thirty meters off the road.
“Dren,” Richard said. “If I have to leave, I want Brachia and you to hide in that brush over there. And, don’t leave it no matter what. I’ll be back for you. I give you my word of honor.”
“You’re not leaving us without a weapon,” Dren said. “I want a real weapon, not a little hunting knife.”
Richard had a momentary image of the girl accidentally shooting herself or her brother.
“I don’t think that would be advisable,” Richard said. “Weapons can be dangerous if you don’t know how to use them.”
“It’s been my experience they can be dangerous even if you do know how to use them,” said Dren. “And, I do. I was on the marksmanship team at school. I can probably outshoot you with a Deloris blaster. So, either give me a weapon, or take us with you, Rick. It’s your choice.”
“Nick?” Richard said getting antsy.
“The blobs Brachia spotted are anomalies, Rick. I’ve compared their energy readings with information in my database. I believe there is a fifty-seven percent probability the blobs are stealth shields combined with some type of invisibility spell. The energy readings are definitely magic in nature.”
“Any idea on how many or what kinds of creatures are being hidden by the spell, Nick?” Richard asked. “I need a little more info if you don’t mind, buddy.”
“That’s the best I can do from the scans, Rick,” said Nickelo. “But, based upon the tracks Brachia spotted, I would say the spell is hiding a group of at least fifty. Those big tracks as Brachia put it were made by ogres. There are at least three of them.”
“Any trolls, Nick?” Richard said. He’d had to fight a couple of trolls once before, and they were a pain in the butt. In fact, Richard thought anything that could heal itself was a pain in the butt.
“No, Rick,” replied Nickelo. “The tracks consisted of several humans, the ogres, and a large contingent of orcs. That’s all I know until they drop their stealth shields.”
“I’m not sure you should go, Rick,” said Dren. “Or, we should all go together.”
“Sorry, Dren,” Richard said. “If it comes to a fight, I would be so worried about taking care of you two it would give the enemy an advantage. I hate leaving you. I honestly do. But, if the gnome priestess is the one we are supposed to help, she is our ticket back home. I think someone is planning on killing or at least capturing her. In either case, we need to stop them if we’re able.”
“Then promise me you’ll be careful, Rick,” said Dren. “Oh, and how about leaving us with som
e kind of communications in case we get in trouble. And, don’t forget about the Deloris blaster. I wasn’t kidding, you know.”
Richard hesitated for a moment. A Deloris blaster was a medium-sized handgun with a very large wallop. It used cartridges instead of an isotopic battery. Unlike cartridges for his antique handguns, a Deloris blaster’s cartridge contained J22 as a propellant for a small warhead made out of brerellium steel with a creallium core. Basically, it was a miniature phase rod. When fired, the brerellium steel would do physical damage while the creallium core would do phase damage. The Deloris blaster was especially effective against enemies with shields or force fields designed to defend against either physical or energy attacks but not both types at the same time. If the shield deflected the phase energy, the physical round still got through. If the shield was attuned to physical attacks, the phase energy could still hit the target. Richard had often wished he had a Deloris blaster instead of his .44 caliber AutoMag or 9 mm pistol. Unfortunately, every time he tried to summon one with the dimensional pack, the summoning failed.
“Sorry, Dren,” Richard said. “I’ve never been able to summon a Deloris blaster. I think ‘the One’ just wants me to use these old antiques I’ve got.”
“Well,” said Dren, “you aren’t summoning it for yourself. You’re getting it for me. Won’t you at least try?”
Richard reached inside his pack and pulled out a small headset and gave it to Dren. Without much hope, he imagined a Deloris blaster along with a holster and two spare twenty round magazines. A little Power was drained from his reserve.
“What the heck?” Richard said as he opened the flap. He reached inside and pulled out a Deloris blaster, holster, and two magazines.
“That butt-wipe,” Richard said as he handed them to Dren. “I’ve tried to do that a dozen times before and failed. It doesn’t seem quite fair.”
Wizard Cadet (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 2) Page 19