Dreadnought_WarMage

by Charles R Case

  The two Marines came forward, peeking around the corner with their own cameras. One gave a nod and knelt against the wall, while the other stood ready and waiting.

  “One, two, three,” a gruff male voice—Reese, Boon guessed—counted.

  On ‘three’, both Marines spun out into the open and took a shot each. Boon noticed their rifles had been silenced. It was not a feature that could be used in full auto, but it was perfect for sniping.

  “Targets down,” Reese reported. “Clear.”

  Gonders stepped out with Boon right behind her, and they quickly moved to the doors the enemy had been guarding.

  Boon curled her lip at the gruesome splatters of blue blood that covered the white door. She looked down at the Teifen, the first she had ever seen up close. Their faces looked almost human—though the features were a little sharp—and they had roughly humanoid shapes, but that was where the similarities ended. The one on the right had legs that, for all the world, looked like a goat’s; they even ended in hooves instead of feet. The one on the left had more human appendages, but it also sported a set of ram’s horns, and a thick tail as long as its legs. Both were dressed in something like a battlesuit, but in white, and custom made for their peculiar anatomy.

  “Be ready,” Gonders warned, raising her rifle and reaching for the door handle. Two Marines lined up behind her, rifles ready. Boon grabbed the other handle as two more Marines lined up behind her. “One, two, three.” They pulled their doors open at the same time and rushed the room, searching for enemies.

  What they found was even more horrifying.

  Packed into the room were at least fifty Elif, all of them bruised and bloody. They were standing in a tight pack in the center of the room, cowering at the sudden movement. Most of them wore what Boon knew was considered high fashion, but their clothes were ripped and ragged. These people had been abused thoroughly, and recently.

  “Are there any Teifen? Are you alone?” Gonders barked from her suit’s speaker.

  The Elif raised their hands in surrender, and a small Elif woman said, “Only the ones on the door,” as she saw the bloody corpses that had been their guards.

  “Check the rooms,” Gonders ordered the Marines, motioning to two sets of doors at the back of the room.

  The four Marines moved quickly and efficiently, opening the doors and checking the rooms.

  “Clear,” one called, then “Clear,” echoed the other.

  Gonders opened her helmet’s faceplate, allowing the Elif to see her face. Boon followed suit. Most had wide eyes of surprise at the sight of a human; some even recoiled, as if seeing a monster.

  “Where is the emperor?” the specialist asked.

  “He’s not here. They keep him in another room down the hall,” the same small Elif woman said.

  “And you are?” Gonders asked, all business.

  She took a bow. “I am Thia, handmaiden to the empress. They have taken me to attend my lady on occasion. She is not well.”

  Gonders opened the channel to the rest of her men. “Get those bodies in here and clean the blood from the doors. We’re taking up a defensive position.”

  Four of the Marines that had entered the room with them walked over and dragged the Teifen bodies into the room, while a fifth began wiping at the blood with a scrap of clothing he’d found on the ground, previously worn by an unfortunate Elif.

  “Sergeant Major, the prison is a feint. The emperor is up on the palace level. We have Elif prisoners here, and they have a location for his Highness,” Gonders reported. She was quiet for a minute as she listened to his reply. “Copy. I’m sending our location and the updated map. You’ll need to find a way around the cave-in, or blast it out of the way. We didn't run into any resistance on the way; I think the crew is busy with repairs.” She was quiet another few beats, then said, “Got it, we’ll hold our position.”

  “We wait?” Boon guessed.

  Gonders nodded. “They’re mopping up the last of the prison force then heading our way. As long as they don't run into any more trouble, they should be here in thirty minutes. Let’s hope no one checks on the prisoners ‘til then. Reese and Trin, I want you two posted at the end of this hall. Find something defensible with cover. It looked like the hall was a dead end; make sure it is. Everyone else, were digging in here until the cavalry arrives.”

  The Marines got to work without a word.

  Boon couldn't help but feel like dead weight. She was not a soldier by a long shot, and these were the cream of the crop.

  “What should I do?” she asked, a little embarrassed.

  Gonders gave her a smile. “You, my dear, are the secret weapon. Just stay loose and be ready for anything. Thirty minutes is a long time in a war zone,” she said, then leaned in and gave her a quick kiss on the lips before closing her faceplate.

  Boon smiled, and closed her own faceplate.

  I am a secret weapon, aren’t I? Don't worry, babe. I’ll make you proud.

  42

  Sir Reitus and Gonders were moving through the prisoners, healing their various wounds. It looked to Boon like the knight was well-known. She had learned from Thia that everyone in the room had been someone of importance in the palace on Effrit. The Teifen had sent in a large force to take prisoners.

  It had been hard to put together at first, due to Thia beating around the bush quite a bit, but eventually she’d told her that the Teifen liked to take high-class figures and turn them into their personal slaves. In the upper circles of Teifen society, owning slaves was a status symbol. The more important the slave was in their former life, the more value they had as objects. They were swapped amongst the Teifen lords like trading cards.

  Boon realized that the Elif in the room were some of the most influential among Elif royalty. The value they held as trade goods would have made the governor extremely powerful. It also meant that the humans had a better chance of preserving the Elif government than they had first assumed.

  Boon was curious about something. She leaned in close to Thia and quietly asked, “If the prisoners are so valuable, why have they been so roughly treated? Most of these people have been beaten and not healed properly. I would think not damaging one’s trophies would be a priority.”

  Thia grimaced and turned her back so that the others couldn’t see what she said. “They were not beaten, not directly. The Teifen like to…” She paused, looking for the right word and wringing her hands. “Break their slaves… Make them subservient through degrading acts,” she finished, and Boon saw a tear fall from her eye before she quickly wiped it away.

  It took Boon a second to get Thia’s full meaning, and when the truth finally dawned, she was gobsmacked. “The Teifen raped them? Oh my god. Were you…”

  Thia shook her head quickly. “No. They left me alone, but only so I could attend the empress and her injuries. They would heal her, but only part of the way, saying the pain was to be a reminder.”

  The girl began to shake with tears, and Boon quickly engulfed her in a hug, careful not to hurt her with her armor. Boon wanted to comfort all the prisoners, but she only had one set of arms, and Thia was closest.

  She felt a tear roll down her own cheek at the injustice delivered to these people. Silva cooed quietly at the pain and shock she felt from her Mage.

  Boon was slammed into the present.

  Up until now, she had just been along for the ride, following Sara or Baxter or even Gonders wherever they led her. But the revelation at the cruelty of the Teifen brought a clarity of purpose she had been missing. She could not sit by and let such evil exist in the galaxy. She was a War Mage, and with that came a responsibility to protect those who could not protect themselves.

  She felt a burning rage twisting in her gut, wanting nothing more than to be let free to ravage this entire ship. She wanted to crush it. To burn it. She wanted to make the Teifen pay for what they had done, and for what they would continue to do if she did nothing. She wanted revenge.

  Boon looked at all of
the Elif pressed closely together, and saw the signs of abuse that she had glossed over before. The torn clothing, the blood that stained inconspicuous places, the haunted look in so many eyes.

  Then one of the Elif stepped to the side, and she caught sight of Gonders, laying a hand on a woman’s shoulder as she sent Aether to heal her wounds. Her rage faded, changed into something less destructive.

  She realized she didn't want revenge; she just wanted the Teifen to stop.

  Boon was not bloodthirsty; in fact, she could hardly stomach the sight of blood. But she would gladly wade through a river of it, if it meant that less people would suffer in the long run. The one thing that living in a religious commune for the first eighteen years of her life had taught her was that, sometimes, violence is the answer. It was an odd thought to take away from a group of pacifists, but that revelation had created a seed of truth, deep within Boon’s soul.

  Seeing the world and wishing it would change, instead of acting to make it change, allowed for the same amount of violence.

  This was made clear on the day Boon decided she was leaving the commune. A local farmer had come with a complaint that the commune’s sheep herd had wandered into one of his berry fields and was killing the bushes by stripping the leaves from the plants. The leader of the commune said that it was the right of the sheep to eat from the land, that he would not stop the natural order of things, and finally said that if the farmer wanted to keep the sheep out, he should put up a fence.

  The farmer argued that the project would cost a fortune, considering the field’s size, and he became angry, which Boon thought was a completely natural reaction, and he punched the leader in the face.

  The leader called in the authorities, and they came and took the farmer away. Everyone else thought this was a fine solution, and praised the leader for not striking back at the farmer, but Boon knew the truth.

  He had struck back; he had just used someone else’s hands.

  She had decided then and there that she would not let others fight for her rights, if she could do the fighting herself.

  Boon patted Thia gently on the back, and cooed softly to her as she watched her guard heal the broken.

  “Ma’am, we have guards coming your way. A lot of them. Looks like twenty-one in total,” Reese said over the open channel. “We can take out a few, but not before they are able to get away. You have thirty seconds before they get to the door.”

  “Shit. Okay, people, we have a fight on our hands. Hemmet, get these people to that side of the room and out of the way as best you can. Sir Reitus, I need you to provide a shield barrier for the men to fire from, here,” she said, indicating an angle facing the door. “I’ll take this side. Reese, you two open up after we attack; go for targets in the back of the pack first; maybe they won’t notice their compatriots falling behind them if they are focused on us. Boon…”

  “Don’t worry, I can handle myself. In fact, I’ll throw the first punch; I can take a lot of them out in one blow if they don't see it coming. Reese, let me know when most of them are directly in front of the door,” Boon ordered, stepping up to face the doors, as Silva slipped into her hip pouch and prepared for battle.

  “You heard the woman, Reese,” Gonders said, producing a shimmering golden shield that her men could kneel behind while still having a clear line of sight on the door.

  “Yes, ma’am. Ten seconds. They’ve noticed the missing guards. The leader is approaching the doors, followed by a few… now!”

  Boon sent a shot of Aether into the spellform she had requested from Silva. The shape blazed in her mind, and a blast of invisible force blew both doors outward, ripping them from their frames. With lethal force, she sent them flying into the five Teifen standing on the other side.

  The doors slammed into the lightly armored guards, throwing them back against the corridor wall. Boon didn't let up on the spell, instead shoving the doors harder. There was a crack and boom as the doors were shattered under its weight. Splashes of blue blood sprayed out in all directions from behind the splintered doors.

  There was a brief second of stunned silence, then more Teifen began to drop, as Reese and Trin picked off targets from their hiding places at the end of the long hall. The room suddenly filled with chattering rifle fire, and most of the Teifen were cut down before they could even raise a rifle.

  Boon stepped out into the hall, checking to make sure they were all down. “Clear,” she and Reese announced at the same time.

  “It’s a good bet they know we’re here,” Gonders said, checking her arm tablet and noting it had only been twenty minutes since she had talked with Baxter. “Right, start throwing any furniture you can get from the surrounding rooms out into the hall. We’re making a barrier. Sir Reitus, I’ll need you to be on shielding duty, since you Elif are exceptional at shields. Reese, Trin, stay on overwatch, and let me know the second you see anything.”

  “Aye, ma’am,” Reese agreed.

  “You’re forgetting about your biggest asset, Gonders,” Sir Reitus said, stepping up to her. He pointed at Boon. “She can hold off an army.”

  “Not for forever, and the more we push her, the less time she has. This will work just fine. You don't need a cannon when a twenty-two will do,” she said, grabbing a chair from against the wall and carrying it into the corridor.

  Sir Reitus considered that, then picked up a chair of his own and followed.

  43

  The thudding of many heavy boots filled the corridor. Boon began to stick her head around the corner, then remembered the camera in her glove, and slipped a finger around the edge.

  Instead of fear at what she saw, she felt exhilaration. Fifty or more Teifen were running down the corridor, headed their way.

  “Here they come,” she shouted over the open channel.

  They had only been able to erect a quarter of the barrier, when the Marines were forced to take what little cover they could behind potted plants, or in doorways. Sir Reitus put up a low barrier across the corridor and readied his own rifle.

  Seeing an opportunity, Boon decided she should do as much damage as possible, as quickly as possible, and stepped around the corner to face the oncoming horde.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Gonders shouted to her, but she was barely listening.

  She powered a shield in front of her, and then quickly powered a second spell, sending a force blast down the hall. The front seven or eight rows of Teifen had nowhere to go, and were smashed backward with the blast, tumbling into those behind them and bringing the whole group to a stop. A large portion of the downed Teifen groaned in pain and rolled around on the floor, but just as many quickly got to their feet, and, in a heartbeat, the corridor was filled with rifle slugs.

  Boon’s shield deflected the incoming fire, but the constant barrage blocked her view, and made targeting a second spell difficult. She sent another force blast blindly down the hall, and was satisfied with the sound of tumbling Teifen, but the fire on her shield continued.

  Unfortunately, she had not gone through magical combat training. She could cast pretty much anything at a thought, but she had never learned the art of actual killing. Using force the way she was, was akin to beating an armored man with a bat; you could knock them down, but it didn't hurt them very much.

  However, there was something to be said for just using a bigger bat.

  Boon sent a third blast down the hall, but this time, she dumped a huge amount of power into it. She felt her well sucking dry from the spell before she unleashed it blindly.

  This time, there was not the sound of tumbling bodies, but the roar of ripping metal and composites. Mixed in were the sound of screams and the splashing of blood. The rifle fire stopped all at once, and she was able to finally get a clear view again.

  The corridor was no longer corridor shaped; instead, the floor bowed, and was scraped clean of its gaudy rugs and golden planters. The walls were misshapen as well, some even ripped open to show the room behind. The lights in their area
had all been smashed, or their wiring had been sliced, because the once brightly lit corridor was now dark where they stood. But silhouetted against the backdrop of the end of the hall, further down, Boon could see the mangled corpses of fifty Teifen.

  “Oh, god. That was one hell of a blast,” Gonders said, peeking around the corner. She looked at the panting Boon. “Are you okay?”

  She was; in fact, she was wonderful. She felt like she could do this all day, except for the ever-so-slight headache that was forming. She reached up to scratch at the back of her neck before remembering she was wearing armor.

  “I’m good. You guys okay?” Boon asked Gonders’ blank helmet, and got a nod in reply.

  “I know we have a fairly defensible position here, but I think we should press on, toward the emperor. The Teifen know we’re here and that we have the prisoners, so they know we have someone that knows his whereabouts; if it were me, I would assume the emperor was next on the rescue list. If we wait for Baxter and the rest of the troops, the guards might get so entrenched, we’ll never be able to get them out,” Boon reasoned, reaching into her hip pouch to pet Silva.

  Gonders nodded. “I was actually thinking the same thing. Get back here, in cover, and I’ll contact the Sergeant Major,” she said, pulling Boon back around the corner.

  She opened a channel to Baxter and awaited his reply, which was nearly immediate.

  “This is Baxter. How are you holding up, Specialist?” he asked, puffing with exertion.

  “Good. Boon just tore the fuck out of a hallway and killed fifty guards, but she seems fine. We think the emperor is going to be hard to get to if we wait it out here for too long. With Boon backing us up, I think we can at least secure the room. The handmaiden pointed it out on our map, and it looks like the area will be defensible, if we can take it before too many guards show up.”