Rick! came a cry from Nickelo in their shared space. Your knife!
A split-second too late, Richard realized his danger. He hadn’t removed his boot knife. Richard began pushing with his telekinesis in an attempt to prevent his TAC officer from reaching his knife. It was the knife Sergeant Hendricks had made for him. It was the knife with a creallium edge to its blade. It was the knife that existed in both the physical dimension and the void between dimensions. In spite of Richard’s effort, the knife came out of its sheath in TAC Officer Myers’ hand. The blade of the knife plunged into Richard’s chest straight into his heart.
Richard had felt pain before, but nothing like the pain he felt now. All thoughts of telekinesis melted away. All that existed was the pain in his chest. Richard felt Power from his third reserve wrapping around his heart as his body tried to selfheal and return to its baseline. TAC Officer Myers jiggled the knife a little. He effectively damaged Richard’s heart as fast as his Power could heal it. Richard could do nothing but groan while wishing the pain would end.
TAC Officer Myers shifted his grip on the knife blade. The knife handle was still in the void, so Richard’s TAC officer was gripping the knife by the blade. Blood poured out of his TAC officer’s clenched fist, but Myers didn’t loosen his grip. He leaned close to Richard’s ear.
“Now here’s how it’s going to work, 832,” said TAC Officer Myers. “You’re going to fix whatever you did to my Power link. And…, if you don’t, we’re both going to stay right here while I jiggle this knife of yours every few seconds.”
The knife in Richard’s chest moved a little causing more damage and more pain. Richard’s Power struggled to completely heal his heart, but it couldn’t do so while the creallium blade was still in it.
“In a couple of minutes, your primary Power reserve will be empty,” said TAC Officer Myers. “Then you won’t be able to maintain your shift in the void anymore. That’s when I’ll show you what real pain is?”
Richard’s TAC officer jiggled the knife blade once again. White-hot pain swept through Richard.
“It sucks not having Power, doesn’t it?” said TAC Officer Myers using Richard’s own words against him. “How do you like being helpless?”
TAC Officer Myers paused again, but he didn’t wiggle the knife this time. Richard wondered why. He had a thought that he probably would have if the situation had been reversed.
“So what’s it going to be, 832?” said TAC Officer Myers. “Fix my link? Or do you want to become more familiar with this knife?”
The pain was beginning to fade a little since the knife was not being moved. It still hurt like all get out, but it was bearable. Richard wondered if he could use his telekinesis to disable his TAC officer before Myers could retaliate with the knife.
Rick, said Nickelo as if guessing Richard’s thoughts. He won fair and square. He’s purposely stopped moving the knife to give you time to think. Don’t be stupid.
Richard didn’t reply to his battle computer. However, he did reach out with his Power and undo the kink in his TAC officer’s link. As soon as he did, he felt TAC Officer Myers pull the knife out of his chest. Richard slumped over holding both hands to his chest.
Neither of them moved or spoke for several seconds as they each waited for their Power to selfheal their injuries. TAC Officer Myers recovered first.
Richard’s TAC officer leaned close and whispered, “And you’re right. I’m not worth spit compared to the commandant.”
Richard looked up. He noticed a strange look in his TAC officer’s eyes.
“I should know,” said TAC Officer Myers. “The commandant is my father.”
With those words, TAC Officer Myers rose and walked to the center of the pit. In a loud voice, he spoke to the cadets gathered around the rim of the pit.
“And that’s how wizard scouts settle their differences,” said TAC Officer Myers.
Richard was still kneeling in the muddy water. The worst of the pain was gone, but the feeling in his chest was anything but pleasant. The shock of his TAC officer’s revelation was almost as bad as the pain.
Myers? Richard thought. Is he really the commandant’s son? How can that be?
Richard heard TAC Officer Myers walking towards him until he was only a few steps away. Richard had no trouble hearing his TAC officer’s next words.
“And…, when the wizard scouts leave the pit,” said TAC Officer Myers, “their differences stay in the pit behind them never to be brought up again.
TAC Officer Myers stuck out his right hand towards Richard. “What about it, Wizard Scout Richard Shepard? Are you ready to leave the pit?”
Richard was poised between two courses of action. The beast that was his temper had been put back inside its cage, but it was still snarling furiously. Another voice seemed to be urging Richard to accept his TAC officer’s peace offering.
Struggling to his feet, Richard half-walked half-stumbled to a position just in front of TAC Officer Myers. He took his TAC officer’s outstretched hand in his.
“Sir!” Richard said. “I’m ready to leave the pit. Sir!”
TAC Officer Myers gave a tightlipped smile and handed Richard back his knife. They left the pit together.
Chapter 47 – The Commandant’s Request
_____________________________________
“Here,” said Jerad as he handed Richard a fist-sized metal can. “I was saving this for a special occasion, but I don’t guess I’ll need it now.”
Richard took the can from his friend. He read the label. “Hmm. Genuine imitation caviar. Sounds expensive. Are you sure?”
“Go ahead, Rick,” said Tam. “You’ve ate everything else in the tent.”
Richard nodded his head. Tam, Telsa, and Stella had joined Jerad and him in their tent after they’d returned from doing their function checks on their battle helmets. The females sat on Jerad’s cot, while Jerad and he sat on his.
Popping off the top of the can of caviar, Richard took a sniff. It didn’t smell too bad considering it was years-old fake fish eggs. Picking up a handy spoon, Richard dug in.
“If you hadn’t eaten those crackers earlier,” Tam said with a snicker, “you could’ve used them now.”
“Heck,” said Telsa laughing with her usual good nature. “If Myers hadn’t ordered you to turn in your equipment to the armory, you could’ve summoned yourself a feast from that pack of yours.”
“Worms better,” said Stella. “Fish eggs. Yuk!”
Richard forced himself to take his time eating the caviar. It wasn’t as if he was hungry. He just had a constant state of the munchies.
“Well,” said Jerad with a shake of his head. “I’d give you something else, Rick, old buddy, but I’m all cleaned out.”
Feeling a little embarrassed, Richard said, “Sorry, Jerad. I didn’t mean to eat all your stash.”
“Don’t worry about it,” said Jerad. With a little laugh he said, “I really don’t feel like eating anyway.”
“I don’t suppose any of us do,” said Telsa. “Nor will we ever again.”
“Except vulture,” said Stella pointing one of her long fingers at Richard.
Richard happened to have his spoon stuck in his mouth at that very moment. His friends laughed. Richard did too, but only after he finished swallowing the last of the caviar.
“Do you think we could eat if we needed to in order to keep up appearances?” said Tam.
“Sure,” said Telsa. “We can eat or drink whatever we want. Our bodies will process the food and liquid normally. We just don’t need nutrition in order to stay alive.”
“Changing the subject,” said Tam. “I don’t mind telling you I about laid an egg when Rick told TAC Officer Myers to KMA.”
Richard turned a little red. His friends started to laugh again.
“I suppose that wasn’t one of my better ideas,” Richard admitted.
“You think?” said Tam as she mimicked a dumbfounded look on her face.
That brought another rou
nd of laughter.
After it quieted down, Telsa said, “Well, what happens now? Have you heard any news, Jerad? You always seem to know what’s going on around here.”
Richard scrapped the last of the caviar out of the bottom of the can and stuck it in his mouth. His hunger was momentarily sated, but he had no doubt it would be back in a couple of minutes.
“My sources tell me Chief Instructor Winslow will be bringing some of her instructors here tomorrow,” said Jerad. “I think it’s for indoctrination training to get us used to using our shared spaces.”
“Oh, yeah,” Richard said. “That could be useful. Nick and I didn’t do such a good job communicating in the pit.”
Hey, came a thought from Nickelo in Richard’s shared space. I was doing my part, so don’t blame me.
Whatever, Nick, Richard said back into his shared space.
“It’ll come,” said Telsa. “I read it just takes a little getting used to before the communication flows naturally.”
“You read a lot,” Richard said.
“And you don’t read enough, Rick,” Telsa countered sounding a little touchy.
“I meant that as a compliment, Telsa,” Richard said honestly.
“Oh, sorry,” said Telsa. “I guess I’m just used to getting ribbed about it.”
“Well, not by me,” Richard said. “I’m trying to read more myself.”
After an awkward moment, Tam said, “Has anybody heard when we’ll be blowing this place?”
Before anyone could answer, they all looked towards the tent opening. Their passive scans had picked up the approaching lifeform of one of the roving guards.
The blue-suited guard walked up and peeked into the tent. “Is a cadet 832 there? He’s supposed to report to the commandant at the airfield’s headquarters building. The message said to tell cadet 832 he needs one final training session.”
* * *
Richard knocked on the door of the commandant’s office.
“Come in, Rick,” said the commandant.
Richard entered. The commandant’s office at the airfield was furnished exactly like his office back at the Academy.
When the commandant motioned to an empty chair in front of his desk, Richard took a seat. A second chair next to it was already occupied by TAC Officer Myers. As Richard settled back in his seat, his TAC officer and he exchanged terse nods. Neither said anything. Their moment of fellowship in the pit was gone, but Richard didn’t sense any lingering hostility on either of their parts. At least there was none from his side.
Well, at least not much, he thought.
That’s smart, Rick, said Nickelo. Let bygones be bygones is my motto.
Since their non-communication fiasco in the pit, Richard had been trying to do his best to channel non-private thoughts to the space he shared with his battle computer. It wasn’t as easy as it sounded, but he thought he was starting to get the hang of it.
“TAC Officer Myers told me about your maneuver with the Power link to his reserve in the pit, Rick,” said the commandant.
“Sir. Yes, sir,” Richard said.
“This is a training session, Rick,” said the commandant. “Please, one sir only.”
“Yes, sir,” Richard said.
“I thought we’d have more time together, Rick,” said the commandant. “But, recent events make it obvious we’re probably not going to have that time.”
“Yes, sir,” Richard said noncommittally. He wasn’t sure where the commandant was heading with the training session. He wanted to stay tightlipped until he got a better feel. However, he had enough respect for the commandant to know that whatever he had to say would be important.
“I asked both of you here for a reason,” said the commandant. “Janice…, Uh…, Councilwoman Deluth and I have been on forty-two mission for ‘the One’ in total. I’ve only been on twelve of them, so Janice is definitely the more experienced.”
The commandant smiled at Richard. “If you ever get a chance to talk to her, you should, Rick. I’ve told her all about you. She’s really an interesting woman. I remember once when–”
“Uh hum,” said TAC Officer Myers.
The commandant looked slightly embarrassed. “Oh, quite right, Gaston. I digress. I guess I’m getting old.”
The commandant grinned sheepishly. Richard grinned back. He assumed he was supposed to grin. TAC Officer Myers did not grin.
“Well, back to my reason for having you both here,” said the commandant. “Both of you are diviners. You specialize in manipulating Power links. This makes you especially good at scans. However, what you did today is not a normal diviner ability, Rick.”
The commandant directed his next question at Richard. “When you repaired my Power link in the hangar, did you notice the traps on it?”
“Yes, sir,” Richard said giving the safest answer.
“Do you know who put them there, Rick?” said the commandant.
“Uh…, I assumed you did, sir,” Richard said.
“Then you assumed wrong, Rick,” said the commandant. “Neither Janice nor I have the ability to do such a thing. In fact, as far as I know, no other wizard scout besides you can protect or block Power links.”
The commandant gave Richard a moment to mull it over before speaking again. “Janice and I both had our links protected when we were on our last mission in the magical dimension. Until that mission, I assumed only magic users could put traps on Power links. I also assumed only magic users could block links to a Power reserve.”
The commandant’s comment caught Richard as strange.
“Sir,” Richard said, “I’m pretty sure the scout I fought last year was going to try and block the link to my Power reserve. She backed off when she saw it was trapped. I didn’t get a chance to probe her link, but I got the feeling it was trapped as well.”
“And your point, Rick?” said the commandant.
“Sir, my point is that she was a scout,” Richard said. “I assumed since she could block links and set traps that other scouts could as well.”
The commandant nodded his head as if considering Richard’s opinion. “Hmm. Well, let me tell you what I’ve found out over the years, Rick,” said the commandant. “It’s been my experience that only someone from the magical dimension can block a Power link or protect a link with traps. And, they have to be very powerful and skilled in the magical arts. Additionally, I’ve found the closer you get to the present time in the magical dimension, the less skilled the mages are at manipulating Power links.”
“I don’t understand, sir,” Richard said being as honest as he could. “Some of the mages and scouts I fought the other night had well-protected links to their Power reserves. So did one of the mages I killed at the spaceport.”
“Did all of them?” asked the commandant.
“No, sir,” Richard admitted. “Some were poorly protected or not protected at all.”
“Well,” said the commandant, “I suspect that was because the mages were brought to our physical dimension from an earlier time in the magical plane. A hundred thousand years ago, the mages on Portalis were very good at protecting their links and at attacking the links of other mages. I know this well, because my very last mission for ‘the One’ was on Portalis a hundred thousand years ago.”
“Was that when your Power reserve was damaged, sir?” Richard said. As soon as the words were out of his mouth, Richard regretted them. He wasn’t sure if the commandant was sensitive about the subject. But the commandant didn’t seem to mind.
“Yes,” said the commandant. “It was damaged on that mission. So was your mother’s, Gaston.”
“So you’ve told me, sir,” said TAC Officer Myers.
“Yes. Well…, anyway,” said the commandant, “I’ve been on a mission on Portalis as recent as twenty thousand years in the past, and the mages in that time had lost most of those skills.”
“Why’re you telling me this, sir?” Richard said.
“Because, Rick,” said the commandant, �
�almost no one in our present time in the physical dimension knows how to protect or block links. You’re the exception. If you’ve encountered opponents with protected links, you can bet they are either from an earlier time in the magical dimension, or someone from that time protected their links for them. Much like you’ve been doing for your fellow cadets.”
“You know about that, sir?” Richard said.
“I’m the commandant. Of course I know.”
The commandant stood up and walked around the table until he stood right in front of Richard and his TAC Officer.
“I want you to do the same for TAC Officer Myers,” said the commandant.
“What?” Richard said.
“No, sir,” said TAC Officer Myers, “I won’t–”
“Enough!” said the commandant. “We’re on the same side. All of us. If mages are indeed on our world in the present time, any wizard scouts who have unprotected links are in jeopardy. They’ll be sitting ducks.”
While Richard might have a tentative treaty with his TAC officer, he wasn’t exactly fond of him either.
“Sir,” Richard said. “Surely you’re not saying I’m capable of protecting the links of all wizard scouts are you?”
“No, of course not, Rick,” said the commandant. “I know it takes time and Power. But I’m letting you know the situation and hoping you’ll take the time to protect other wizard scouts when you can.”
“Sir,” said TAC Officer Myers. “I’m quite capable of defending myself.”
“Yes, you are, Gaston,” said the commandant. “But not in this matter.”
The commandant turned to face Richard. “Will you do this for me, Rick?”
“Ah, sir,” Richard said in a weak attempt to get out of the request. “I used a lot of Power in the pit today. I’m only at fifty-seven percent in my reserve.”
“Is low Power your only excuse, Rick,” said the commandant. “Then I’ll attach a link to you and feed you Power from my reserve.”
“No, sir!” Richard and TAC Officer Myers said at the same time.
“Sir,” said TAC Officer Myers. “You know that’s foolish. Your own link is weak as it is. You’d blow holes in your Power reserve if you tried such a thing.”
Wizard Scout (Intergalactic Wizard Scout Chronicles Book 3) Page 47