Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2)

by Michael Anderle

  Stephanie pursed the ambassador’s lips, nodded, and turned swiftly as though she’d forgotten which way she’d meant to go before she strode nonchalantly down the hall in the right direction. Frog ducked out to give her an enthusiastic grin and two thumbs-up as she passed. It took everything in her not to blush.

  “Okay, Morgana. You’re a little embarrassed, as you should be,” she whispered to herself. “Turn that to pure and total rage and you’ll well and truly be on your way to kicking Dreth ass.”

  She curled her hands into fists and released a small burst of static. “Too much, Morgana, too much.”

  “Get me the security scans,” Saqteq ordered as he paced swiftly in the limited space. “I want to see every part of this ship so I know the ambassador isn’t playing any little tricks. He’s always fancied himself as clever and I won’t fall victim to one of his idiotic schemes.”

  The Hormghast’s eyes scrutinized the scans displayed on the main viewing screen and searched for any type of movement. Behind him, Captain Penman sat rigidly in his chair. He knew that if the ambassador surrendered himself, it would only mean death.

  The Meligornian was older and more powerful, but he would be one man against the Dreth killers and would be more than willing to give his soul for the people on the ship. The captain couldn’t believe it would happen on his watch.

  It seemed tragic that after a long and illustrious career, he would be remembered as the captain who’d allowed the capture—and most likely the death—of the Meligornian ambassador to Earth.

  “Hormghast,” one of the Dreth called and pointed to the third screen. “There is someone coming.”

  Saqteq waved his hand in the air. “Enlarge it. I want to see his final walk of shame.”

  They all watched, the humans in horror and the Dreth in good-humored anticipation as a lone figure walked slowly toward the camera, then past and down the corridor. His face was unmistakable. The ambassador had come as promised.

  For a moment, Captain Penman had hoped it was a different ambassador or someone posing as him, but the eyes, the slender, youthlike features, and the sparkling silver tresses were unmistakable. He looked away for a moment and up once again as the view shifted to the next screen.

  He thought about the ambassador for a moment and focused more intently with narrowed, confused eyes. Instinctively but surreptitiously, he scooted forward in the chair for a closer look.

  The executive officer noticed the movement. “What is it, Captain?”

  Penman shook his head in warning and kept his voice low. “It’s probably wishful thinking, but I could have sworn the ambassador had a scar on that side of his face from his attempt to save his daughter many moons ago, and I didn’t notice it there.”

  The other man scrutinized the feed as the Meligornian passed under another camera, and he confirmed there was no sign of any scar on his face. He glanced at the captain, who pursed his lips and attempted to keep a shocked look on his face and not reveal anything that might alert the pirates.

  Saqteq turned toward them and smiled with quiet satisfaction as he gestured at the screen. “Don’t miss it, boys. Watch as the reason for your ticket to hell approaches. And please, don’t forget to thank him when he gets here. I’m sure he will love to see your faces before he watches you all die.”

  Chapter Thirty-Six

  Stephanie wobbled slightly with the effort to constantly lean to the right side like the ambassador always did. As she passed each security camera, she released a slight surge of magic into the wall below it. The stream of translucent gMU flowed out to vanish behind the wall panels.

  Inside, it twisted up the wires and into the camera itself. There, it sparked obediently so the devices froze the image and held it steady for thirty seconds.

  She knew she was being watched and that the pirates and ship’s crew were most likely shocked by the presence of the ambassador. It was almost hilarious to know with each passing camera that she was able to trick them into thinking she was not only a different age and gender but a completely different species.

  Her magic swirled wildly inside and the vortex worked double-time. Soon, she no longer had to focus to maintain the Meligornian’s form. Her skills grew stronger and the increased power couldn’t have come at a better time.

  The cameras changed as she moved, and she knew that her team was mere feet behind her, waiting for a clear path before they hurried through. She wasn’t alone in any of this, and that made her feel even braver.

  Behind her, Lars reached the next intersection and put his fist up before he glanced carefully around the corner. It was completely empty of Dreth so he moved through and gestured the team up behind him.

  Marcus, who was closest, leaned forward and whispered, “Are you sure these cameras are frozen? Are you sure she can do this?”

  He stopped and shrugged as they waited to enter the next section. “If she can’t, this will be to be the shortest rescue from pirates in history.”

  The other man thought about that for a moment and nodded. “She either can or she can’t, but we should act like it's done and keep watch for anyone who can see us and give us away.”

  They reached the end of the next section and Lars squatted and drew his team in close. “Marcus brought up a good point. Whether this works or not, we have to be prepared for Dreth. If you see a pirate, shoot him. Shoot him so he can’t come back. Shoot him so the rest of his filthy comrades feel the pain.”

  Frog nodded. “Or her.”

  Everyone looked at him. “What? Just saying. No need to be gender-specific here. For all we know, those huge smelly bastards are all girls. You’re the ones with the assumptions. Sheesh.”

  The guys simply shook their heads and readied themselves once more. Lars gave them all a strong look of approval. “We got this, guys. And so does she. Have faith in her.”

  “Always,” Marcus agreed.

  “To the damn glorious end,” Johnny replied.

  “She is pretty much the baddest ball-bustingest chick ever,” Brenden said.

  “Agreed,” Avery added.

  “You know I will hop along after her for, like, life,” Frog said and made everyone suppress laughter.

  Lars tilted his head toward the next stretch. “Well, shit, what are we waiting for then?”

  Every step Stephanie took toward the Bridge as the ambassador became more difficult to make. It was as if the anger she held in vibrated through her whole body.

  It was so strong it almost made her stagger. That pirate bastard didn’t know what he was in for. He had threatened her friend, an adopted member of her family, a man who had more courage and morality in his pinky finger than any of the Dreth inside.

  Her fists clenched and she looked down and twisted her neck as she tried to push away the feeling that she might lose control.

  They deserve to have you lose control, she said to herself. But shit, you gotta make it there first. Keep it together. Keep it together. Think of something calming.

  Todd’s face flashed through her mind, and she felt the energy surge subside enough for her to continue. He danced around in her mind, told jokes, and talked exactly like he had when they were in school.

  She remembered the way he walked backward to see her face as he spoke. Then he morphed in her mind to stand at the helm of a Federation Navy ship, saluting the Federation flag and ready to fight for them. She was proud of him, even though the military wasn’t something she wanted. No, not in the least.

  Seconds later, the anger took hold again, and she was struck by a vision of Todd dying at the hand of a Dreth warrior and screaming in pain. Fire blazed all around him with no way for her to get through.

  The imagery meant she had to fight harder than ever to keep the black from her eyes. Sweat began to pour down her forehead and despite her attempts to push out the bad, all she could see were the people she loved dying by Dreth pirate hand.

  Now she knew how the Ambassador felt after losing his daughter. Now she knew how he would feel
if he were subjected to the cruelty of what the Dreth pirate attempted to lay on his shoulders.

  As she walked slowly forward, her breath became more rapid and she looked down when her eyes shifted from black to purple and purple to black. She could feel herself drawing in more and more magic until she didn’t know if she could hold it for another second, let alone until she needed it.

  When she reached the corridor across from the Bridge, she clutched the railing on the wall, stumbled, and put her head down. She closed her eyes and took a moment to steady herself and remember why she was there—and why what she was doing was so important. The magic flowing through her was under her control and she needed to start acting like it.

  Shaking her head, she harnessed the rage inside her and set it to the side to box it in and buy her enough time to walk onto the Bridge. As she did so, she felt the black fade even though the anger remained. When she knew she was okay, she turned and continued toward two pirates who stood outside the Bridge doors.

  They looked at her with sneers of disgust. The one on the right raised his comm to his mouth to report to those inside. “Meligorn Muschtak is here.”

  Stephanie knew it was a slur and a nasty one at that. She knew they were already baiting her as the ambassador, trying to embarrass him through ridicule, and it enraged her. The magic pushed at the boundaries she’d set, and she almost relinquished control then and there.

  One of the Dreth looked strangely at her when he noticed the sweat trickling down her face and her clenched fists. He elbowed the other who studied the ambassador briefly and shrugged. “Maybe he is having a heart attack. That would do the dirty work for us.”

  They both laughed and only the knowledge that she would unleash hell on them enabled her to calm herself. They wouldn’t know what hit them.

  Behind Stephanie, the team halted around the corner from their destination. Lars watched as the Dreth guards grasped the back of her robes and shoved her into the Bridge. The door closed behind them but in the second before they disappeared from view, they slapped each other’s claws in a Dreth high five.

  He curled his lip scornfully and shook his head. With his back pressed against the wall, he took a deep breath. “She’s in. Now, all we have to do is wait for the signal.”

  Marcus frowned. “Uh…Lars? What signal would that be?”

  Frog hit his forehead and hissed at Marcus. “The one that comes over the comms. Sheesh.”

  The team leader blinked. He felt the need to rush after his charge but managed to hold back. “It’s Stephanie. She always has a signal. Although we should probably order her to give us an official one. Something like the Bat Symbol, but way more cool.”

  “Like a Super Llama,” Frog said and garnered several blank stares from his teammates.

  The lighting inside the Bridge burned steady and white, a distinct contrast to the flashing amber lighting in the corridors beyond. It was also a contrast to the danger she was heading into.

  Still, she was calm and collected and loved the fact that she could walk through as she was and have no one question her. Someone began to clap loudly and a tall Dreth, built slightly smaller than the others, turned away from the viewscreen that stretched in front of the control center. There was something about him that set him apart from the others.

  He smiled, still clapping. “The great ambassador has come here to die. How poetic could it get?”

  Stephanie chose to remain absolutely silent. She could imagine that the Bridge was a comfortable place on a normal day, but not with a dozen Dreth holding guns to the heads of the crew hostages like they were.

  Their leader observed the ambassador as he shifted his gaze and noted the position of every Dreth in the room.

  “I know what you’re doing.” He snickered. “You are planning your heroic attack, right? The one where you save the crew and kick our asses back to Dreth? Maybe even kill us and show you have no mercy, even in your pathetic new life.”

  The Hormghast shook his finger at the Meligornian. “You know, it would be useless of you to fight anyway. Even one as great as you runs out of energy.”

  He yanked the ambassador’s robes open and tilted his head to the side to inspect the tunic beneath. “Ahhh, you did not even bother with any batteries. Are you so impressed with your abilities that you spit on us in contempt?”

  With a grin, he spread his hands and cracked his neck noisily. In silence, he raised one hand and drew it slowly down over his face before he released a stream of MU from his fingertips.

  It flowed over his head and down to wind around the pirate’s body. Stephanie gaped in shock as the Dreth elevated to hover a few feet from the floor as he morphed into his true form. When the new figure solidified, the pirate drifted to a sedate landing and released a deep breath.

  She gritted her teeth and forced her voice to sound like the ambassador’s. “You are a Meligornian.”

  The captain smiled. “That’s right, Ambassador—which makes me a hell of a lot scarier now.”

  He held an empty battery out and gestured with his free hand.” “Put your MU in here.”

  With her expression frozen in place, she complied carefully and pressed her hand against the battery to give him exactly what he asked for—her MU. When she withdrew her hand, the captain held the battery up and looked at the quarter-full rock. “I doubt this is all you have, but I will take it.”

  He drew the MU into himself and breathed deeply, his eyes shut. “And now you are but a portion of yourself and I am fully charged. Will you allow your anger to become your stupidity one last time?”

  He grabbed his captive by the shoulder and dragged him in front of the viewscreen. Instead of corridors, it now showed the interiors of all the rooms where frightened passengers waited and watched their viewscreens in horror.

  “You cannot possibly save them all with what little energy remains inside you. And we have planted the bomb which will break the ship apart if you do not disarm it in time.”

  With a bark of laughter, the pirate captain walked around the room, gloating. “How the powerful and mighty fall when their compassion replaces their passion. How funny it will be to see you crumble at the feet of the people and watch them shattered in agony and defeat.”

  He paused briefly, cleared his throat, and spoke into his comms. “Round them up, boys. We are getting the hell off this ship and going home where we can watch in peace as they spend their last moments in the cold abyss of space.”

  The Meligornian walked past Captain Penman, a look of scorn on his face. He stopped and stood with his legs shoulder-width apart, irritated at the ambassador’s silence.

  Stephanie focused on the screens to make sure none of her team was visible on the cameras. Her magic had worked, and she knew they’d be waiting close by for the signal.

  The pirate captain cracked his knuckles and drew her attention. “Do you have anything to say before we take you with us? The king will be at a loss once he does not have you as a pawn in this game.”

  She didn’t know what he meant and simply reverted to what she knew of the ambassador. She spoke firmly, her back to him at first. “I don’t know what you mean. The unfortunate situation for you is that I am well versed in the evil that dwells in the souls of all who speak as you do.” She turned and fixed her captor with a cold gaze. “It’s even more unfortunate that I refuse to bow to those like you.”

  His features mottled with anger but she gestured sharply to launch streaks of magic that wrapped themselves tightly around the pirates who guarded the crew. It immobilized them so they were unable to move. Immediately after, she gestured at the door to the Bridge, opened it, and blazed a fireball at the two pirates who stepped forward hastily to defend it. This was the signal her boys were waiting for.

  The captain shouted in alarm and threw a spell. Stephanie raised her arm and blocked it easily as she looked over her shoulder at the door.

  “Move your asses,” she grumbled and wondered if it was time to feel anxious.


  She would have to use the gMU she had stored or release her hold on the pirates if her team didn’t hurry the hell up.

  “Do you think the Dreth have emotions?” Marcus asked where the guys sat tucked against the wall. They were almost bored as they waited for the signal. “Personally, I couldn’t imagine one of those giant things shedding a tear, cuddling a hideous Dreth baby, or kissing their wives.”

  “Now you’re plain being sick,” Johnny replied. “I’m sure they have emotions, though. And not all Dreth are bad. Only these.”

  Marcus shrugged and studied his nails. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s hard to see it, though, when they’re trying to kill you all the time.”

  The doors to the Bridge slid open and caught their attention. The team huddled together to glance around. They were in time to see the Dreth guards step into the opening, clearly confused.

  Suddenly, a huge ball of magical fire rocketed into the floor between them, knocked both Dreth off their feet, and catapulted them into the walls hard enough to leave dents. As the pirates landed heavily, Frog pointed. “The signal! That’s the signal!”

  Lars was already moving. He leapt to his feet, waved his arm, and raced as fast as he could to the Bridge. The two Dreth groaned and struggled to their feet.

  “Scum.” The Meligornian pirate spat and glared at the ambassador.

  Outside, the guards raised their heads as the sound of feet pounding down the corridor intruded through their grogginess and confusion. “Huh?”

  Their eyes widened as Lars and the team hurtled toward at them at a relentless pace, dressed in body armor with their weapons raised as they bellowed the new team battle cry. “Morgana!”

  The pirates fumbled for their blasters but realized they’d dropped them and hadn’t yet retrieved them. One of them pushed the other to the side and they both drew large swords from the sheaths on their backs.