“That is not good enough. There is a very real chance that the Elif prince is the one communicating with the Teifen fleet that attacked my ship. If he tells them where Earth is, what kind of chance do we have?” Sara argued. She wanted to rage and scream at their stupidity.
The commander’s voice took on an annoyed edge. “Captain, you cannot just go to the embassy and speak on humanity’s behalf. It is not the way things are done.”
Sara ground her teeth. “I will not stand by and let some child lead the enemy to our door. I am going to stop this, and you can help, or you can get out of the way, but it is going to happen.”
“Captain, you will not invade Elif airspace. That is an order,” he stated sternly.
Sara took a deep breath, trying to calm herself. God, I really need to do some yoga and work out this rage; it can't be good for my heart, she thought.
She cleared her throat, and spoke as calmly as she could. “Commander, I cannot help that you are too stubborn to see the real danger. There is a person who, at any time, could send a message that will spell the destruction of everyone you know. I have the ability to stop him, so I will.”
The commander gave a gruff laugh. “This is your final warning; you will not attempt to land at that embassy. If you do, you will be shot down.”
Sara cut off the comm channel, and screamed with rage. Boon was watching with wide eyes, her hand over her mouth in surprise.
Baxter stuck his head through the cockpit’s door, a look of concern on his face. “So, that seemed intense. What are you planning on doing?”
“Just what I said I would. I’m going in there and stopping the little shit from contacting the Teifen fleet. But more importantly, I’m going to find out why he’s doing this in the first place,” Sara declared, gripping the controls white-knuckled.
“What about them trying to shoot us down?” Boon asked, reaching up and scratching Silva’s chin.
“The two of us will handle anything they throw at us.”
Ten minutes later, Sara pushed the stick forward, diving from the upper atmosphere toward the big island. She highlighted the Elif embassy on the cockpit window with the navigation feature, and an icon appeared above a set of buildings inside the city. She made straight for them, slowing the shuttle now that the atmosphere was thickening again.
An alarm began to wail, and Boon reached up to flip a switch, dropping the wail to a drone. “They have us targeted,” she reported, then made room on her lap for Alister to join Silva. The two familiars curled together and hunkered down for the fight.
“I’m not worried. I'm going to need you to take care of the defenses at the embassy. Try not to get too out of hand, and for god’s sake, don't kill anyone. I’ll provide cover and clear our path,” Sara ordered, diving through the scattered cloud cover.
They closed in fast, and Sara waited until the last minute to pull up, screaming over the buildings and streets at just under Mach 1. She pulled the throttle back, and they slowed to a crawl, just outside the Elif embassy.
The building was in the Elif style, with bulbous towers and high arches. The embassy almost looked like a mix of Russian style onion domes, and a cathedral from the dark ages, but the whole thing was painted with metallic coatings in bright greens and blues. There was a wall surrounding the compound, with turrets along its top in armored boxes. A group of Elif in Aetheric armor were surrounding the landing zone, and each of them was pointing a rifle at the shuttle.
Sara was circling the courtyard to bring the shuttle in for a landing, when Boon yelled, “Oh, shit! We have inbound missiles.”
The projectiles hit before Boon was done warning Sara about them. They had come from the capital’s defense grid, and were hypersonic when they hit, having had a flight time of less than a second from the launcher to the shuttle. The warheads were designed to explode after penetrating the hull of their target, that way they concentrated the destruction inside of the target itself, instead of spending energy on the armored hull.
The timing was extremely precise, and there was a failsafe built in, in the off-chance that the armor was able to withstand the impact of the hardened tip of the missile. The crushing of the tip would set off the explosion early, doing maximum damage to the armor, so that the next missile would have a better chance of penetrating. The missiles were smart, and judged the best course of action in a split second.
Sara knew all of this about ground-to-air missiles. She had taken classes on them at the academy. Even in that class, she tended to daydream once she’d grasped the material. However, one of the things she’d daydreamed about was how she would deal with such a weapon.
Back then, she’d lacked the power and control to actually carry out her plan, but that was then.
This is now.
Sara had been prepared for the strike even before she was diving from high atmosphere. She had Alister construct a thick, gelatinous shield. The idea was that the missiles would hit the gel and slow to a stop before they could get close.
It worked like a dream.
Sara could see the two missiles suspended a hundred meters off to their left, their rockets still burning at full blast, but not able to move through her and Alister's construction. With a second form, she wrapped each missile in a force spell and flung them out over the ocean, then crushed their tips, making them explode.
The detonation of the missiles served as the signal for attack. All the auto turrets on the embassy walls opened up, spitting metal slugs out in curtains of steel. The guns were similar to the PDCs on the Naval ships, but with a smaller caliber of slug. The Elif in the landing zone began firing their rifles, though Sara guessed it was more for effect than any thought of actually damaging them.
She had already dismissed the gel-shield for a hardened one, and the slugs and slivers of metal ricocheted off, peppering the ground around the shuttle as she sank lower and lower.
Right before they touched down, two mages let loose with fireballs. They aimed for the cockpit, but the fire splashed across her shield with no effect, though they did turn the golden color a brighter yellow for a second.
Sara extended the landing legs, and the shuttle rocked slightly as it touched down. She smiled cruelly through the glass at the armored troops while they fired with everything they had.
A soldier stepped out from behind a pillar and, swinging a rocket launcher to his shoulder, let one fly. Sara caught the rocket with a force spell before it was halfway to the shuttle; with a complicated change, Alister morphed the spell into a shield bubble, and collapsed it around the rocket. The explosion was contained in the rapidly shrinking bubble, so that when Sara released the tiny shield, a ball of mangled steel and carbon fell to the courtyard to bounce once, and then lay still as it smoked.
“Boon, let’s take out those turrets,” Sara pitched, watching the soldiers as they looked at the small, smoking ball that used to be a rocket.
The women got up and made their way to the back of the shuttle with Baxter, and Alister and Silva rode on their Mage’s shoulders. Sara activated the ramp controls, opening the back door and lowering the ramp. They stepped out and saw that the shuttle was surrounded. Further, the shield around the shuttle was taking a beating, making it hard to see past the sparks and flashes of golden color as every attack was repelled with ease.
Boon and Baxter began targeting turrets, crushing them with a force spell, and sending sparks and showers of broken parts to the ground.
“Lower your weapons,” Sara shouted as the last of the turrets crumbled.
To her surprise, the soldiers stopped shooting… but they did not lower their rifles. Instead, a section of the soldiers encircling them shifted to the side, allowing a woman in robes of office to step forward.
The woman held up a hand. “Please, stop. There must be a way we can come to a resolution,” she said, and Sara recognized her as the Elif ambassador.
“Ambassador, there most certainly is. Bring the prince to your dampening room, and allow me to speak to
him,” Sara said.
“That is out of the question. The prince shall be protected, for he is the new empire. We cannot allow you to see him; not after what you have done to our defenses. This is highly—”
She was cut off as a new set of guards pressed their way to the front. In the center of the newcomers was a young Elif in white robes.
“It is all right. I have nothing to hide from this Mage,” the young Elif said. “I shall do what I must to protect my people.”
Sara pointed directly at him. “This is the prince?”
The ambassador nearly choked. “This is His Highness, Prince Paelias DeSolin. You shall show him the proper respect—”
“We know you sent messages to the Teifen, and I’m here to make sure you don't do it again,” Sara told him. As she stalked to the edge of the shield, a small opening appeared for her to walk through. The shield was closed again before anyone could think to raise a weapon.
“That is preposterous. The prince was the only royal to escape the attack on our homeworld! Why would he want the Teifen to know where he has gone?” the ambassador asked, stepping in front of Sara to block her path.
The guards closed in tighter around the prince, obviously wanting to take him back inside. The prince however, stepped forward, and waved back the guards.
“I had no choice,” he admitted, to the gasps of his soldiers and the ambassador. “The governor has my father and mother. He told me that he would release them if I led him to the humans’ homeworld. I did it for the good of all Elif-kind.”
The ambassador took a step back in horror. “My Lord. The Teifen are treacherous; you cannot take them at their word.”
Sara grimaced. “It seems that is something the Elif and Teifen have in common, if the old histories are correct. Once again, your people will sell out humanity for your own personal gain, no matter how shortsighted that gain may be.”
The ambassador knew exactly what she was referring to, and seemed surprised that she had any clue about the ancient history between their people.
Sara took a breath and blew it out in frustration. “How do you even know the emperor and empress still live?” she asked the boy.
“I spoke to my father. He is being held on the governor’s dreadnought,” he said defiantly.
Sara bit her lip, thinking of what that would mean, if the emperor was still alive. The prince may be a symbol of their empire, but he was far too young to actually rule. The still-living emperor, however, could mean a workable alliance between the humans and Elif. From everything she had heard, Emperor DeSolin was a good leader, if not a little mired in tradition.
The ambassador was talking frantically with the prince, but Sara interrupted them. “You’re sure it was your father? Not just a trick?”
“I am. We have a passphrase to verify our identities in just such an occasion,” the prince assured her.
“Well that’s something, at least. We have some time to come up with a plan,” Sara said, crossing her arms, and beginning to think up a strategy.
“Will you save my father?” the boy asked, and Sara noted that his eyes were filling with tears.
“If the options are to save him, or have you rule the Elif? Yeah, I’m going to do whatever I can to save him,” Sara said, regretting the jab immediately.
The prince seemed unaffected by this, as he already appeared to be pretty miserable. “Then you should know that the Teifen are on their way. I sent the message an hour ago,” he confessed, hanging his head, as tears dripped from his nose.
Sara closed her eyes. “Fuck. Me.”
33
The mood had changed dramatically in the embassy courtyard following the prince’s admission.
Their lord had betrayed an ally, and had publicly admitted to it. The fight had left them, and confusion and anger were fighting for the lead in their emotions. Sara didn't blame them. She would be beside herself, if her president had done the same to the Elif.
Sara turned to Boon and Baxter, and opened a comm channel through their armor. “Get back on the shuttle, and get Grimms on the line. He needs to know what’s happening. I’ll be back in a minute.”
Boon gave a nod, and she and Baxter jogged back up the ramp. Sara had Alister form a bubble shield around her, and she lifted them off the ground and glided to the top of the embassy’s wall. As she suspected, the place was surrounded by UHF troops.
As soon as she crested the wall, they all took aim at her, but held their fire. She scanned the ranks until she found an officer, then floated over to her as nonthreateningly as she could. She settled the bubble down in front of the colonel, and gave a salute.
The befuddled colonel returned the gesture. “Captain, you mind telling me what the hell is going on? I have orders to arrest you. Unfortunately, I know who you are, and what you’re capable of, so I don't know that I can actually take you in without a lot of people getting hurt. And if it’s all the same to you, I would not like to see anyone in the infirmary later.”
“My sentiments exactly, Colonel,” Sara said with a smile that she realized couldn't be seen through her black faceplate. “I need you to do something for me,” she said, unstrapping her hip pouch and handing it to the woman. “There is a core in this bag that I need you to get to the admirals. On it is a program that will help them tremendously; it will also answer a lot of questions that they have. Be sure you don't touch it, though, ‘cause it’ll knock you out with a zap that your mother will feel. The admirals will know how to handle it. Lastly, I need you to tell them, ‘Cora was right; the Teifen are on their way’.”
The colonel’s eyes went wide. “The Teifen know where Earth is?”
Sara nodded. “I’m afraid it’s going to be a rough afternoon.”
She turned, and the colonel cleared her throat. Sara turned back, and the woman said, “I’ll just let them know that you were unavailable for questioning, then?”
Sara smiled and rolled her eyes, then remembered the damn helmet. She felt amusement coming from Alister. “Sounds good to me, Colonel,” she said, before lifting off in the shield bubble to return to the shuttle.
The colonel watched her go. Why did that cat look like it was snickering?
34
Sara had Baxter fly them back to the Raven, while she sat in the copilot’s seat, on the comm with the UHFC. The arguments became circular before they had even exited the atmosphere.
Command argued that Sara had broken the law, and needed to turn herself in; she argued that if she hadn’t gone in and confronted the Elif, the Teifen would have arrived and decimated the system before they could have mounted a defense. The UHFC agreed that the warning was what was going to save them, but nonetheless determined that she had broken the law, and they could not let that slide. She then argued that they could not win this battle without the Raven, and the Raven was not a warship unless she was on it.
This went round and round until a compromise was reached: Sara would return to the Raven, but turn herself in after the day had been saved. She agreed mostly to shut them up and get on with the preparations. Whether she would actually do it, she didn't know.
They entered the Raven’s docking bay while the ship was still attached to the station, being resupplied. Baxter settled the small shuttle into an auxiliary bay beside the three much larger dropships, and shut the engines down.
“You’re going to try and rescue the emperor, aren’t you?” Baxter said, turning in the pilot’s chair to face Sara.
She nodded. “I have to. We can't let that boy take over, if we want to win this war.”
“And how exactly do you plan on doing that? If you didn't hear Grimms’ description, the emperor is being held on a dreadnought. You remember what those are like, right? We just spent a few hours on one, if you’re foggy,” he said, his voice dripping with sarcasm.
She gave him a disapproving face. “I remember. But in case you forgot, we have two War Mages to throw at it,” she said, sticking out her thumb and pinky, and rocking them between herself
and Boon, who had just stuck her head in the cockpit’s open door.
“Actually, only one that can go on a rescue mission,” Baxter corrected. “You have to stay on the ship. We’re going to be in a naval battle; you can't leave in the middle of it,” he argued.
She had to concede his point, but he wasn’t done yet. “And Boon isn’t exactly able to handle the amount of Aether you are. She doesn't have anyone to share the burden with; if the exercises on the Exitium are any indication, she would be in trouble pretty quickly.”
Boon gave a cheerful wave. “You know I’m right here, don't you?”
Silva chittered her agreement from around the girl’s neck.
Sara ignored them, biting her lip in thought. “You’re right. She needs a guard. Do you think Gonders would be willing?”
Boon’s face turned red, and she began waving her hands back and forth. “Oh, no. We don't have to go there. I’ll be fine. I wouldn't want to freak her out or anything.”
“She would do it if you asked, Captain. After that mission on Colony 788, she would do anything for you. She won’t shut up about it,” Baxter said, ignoring the blonde woman’s objections.
Sara nodded and smiled. “That was a pretty good trick, blowing up the dome from underneath. Okay, so we get Boon on board the dreadnought, with you, Gonders, and the Marines. The Raven will keep the dreadnought busy from the outside, while you find the prison and break the emperor out.”
“Hello? Don't I have a say in this?” Boon whined to deaf ears.
“If that ship is as big as the one we were on, it could take forever to find him. Not to mention there will be thousands of Teifen aboard,” Baxter said.
“True, but they will mostly be busy with the battle. There can only be so many troops in one area; if we hit them hard and fast, you should be able to get in and get out before you’re overwhelmed.”
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