Magma moved in a slow-moving tide and engulfed their fighters on the shelf outside. It filled the landing area, spreading slowly away from the gaping hole where the base’s entrance had been.
One of the marines whistled and looked at Stephanie. “Did your girl do all that?”
The team bristled and pushed off the wall to take a step forward. Even the cats advanced a pace, their fur standing up in a ridge down their backs, their tails held high, and their ears pricked.
The man raised his hands slightly and backed away. “No offense, man.” He gestured toward the hologram. “But dayum!
When they studied the image, the team had to admit he had a point.
Magma escaped from other openings farther up the mountain and trickled down its sides in bright orange ribbons. The hostilities forgotten, they watched in fascination as the mountain quickly became a volcano that burst at the seams and exploded.
It was stunning to watch from the safe distance of several miles away. Ash and debris erupted out of the planetoid and drifted into space, making the area hazardous.
Marcus came close and stared, then poked it with his finger. “That is insane. A volcano in a place where there wasn’t one before.”
Vishlog pushed to his feet. “Our leader needs to rest,” he declared and looked directly at the marine captain. The man understood. “Up the stairs, behind the cockpit. Don’t talk to the Wattlebird.”
The Dreth raised his eyebrows. “Who?”
“The pilot,” the captain told him. “Don’t talk to him.”
He frowned but nodded. “There will be no talking.” He glanced at Lars and addressed him as he’d heard some of the others do. “Boss?"
The team leader nodded. "I’ll come with you." He fixed Frog with a steely glare. “Stay out of trouble while I’m gone. Don’t do anything involving credits.”
The nearest marines grinned, but he ignored them. “Let’s go, Vishlog.”
The warrior carried Stephanie where the captain had directed and found the crash couch behind the cockpit. He laid her on it gently and settled on the floor at the base of the bed.
“I will take the first watch,” he told Lars and gave the pilot a hard look. “There will be silence.”
Wattlebird shrugged and focused on flying. Whatever. He decided he’d be tired, too, if he’d just blown up a mountain. He didn’t even complain when the two large cats came up from the hold and hopped onto the bed alongside her.
The Dreth did nothing to stop them, and feline-scented sheets or no, the pilot opted to let it go. After all, if a Dreth didn’t want to tell the big beasts off, why would he?
Chapter Sixty
The rest of the team watched the volcano until the shuttle touched down in the Washington Revere’s docking bay. As Vishlog struggled to his feet, Lars glanced across at him. “Do you want me to take her?”
The warrior shook his head.
They headed to their quarters and the pilot’s reminder followed in their wake. “Three rounds, Johnny. You hear me?”
Johnny flipped his hand at the cockpit and nodded as he turned away.
“And none for those asshole marines,” the Wattlebird added, making them all pause. The marines said nothing, but they about-faced as one and marched back onto the shuttle.
Johnny sighed. “Hold up, guys.”
The team stopped to watch as the last marine disappeared. Several squawks and rattles issued over the intercom, and the sailors working in the hangar stopped.
“Marines,” Johnny replied when one shot him an inquiring look, and the sailors went back to work.
A short while later, the marine captain and four of his squad reappeared and marched over to the team. “Navy Pilot Wattlebird is buying tonight.”
He didn’t explain what or why but simply stood and stared at them. When the team didn’t move, he added, “You are dismissed. I believe the Washington’s captain is expecting a report.”
It was a poorly disguised order, but Lars and Johnny exchanged glances and decided they’d take it. They reached the briefing area beyond the hangar bay proper and stopped.
There, waiting for them, was a small cluster of men and women wearing the insignia of Naval Intelligence. Johnny looked at Lars as one of them approached.
With a hasty glance at Stephanie’s sleeping form, the officer lowered his voice. “The captain says you’ve retrieved data from the rebel systems?”
Johnny gave him a curt nod and signaled for Frog to come forward. When none of the team members said anything, the officer tried again.
“Can we have it, please?”
Again, Johnny looked at Lars, and this time, the team leader nodded. “It’s what we went for, and it’ll save lives in the right hands. She’d want them to have it.”
He ushered Vishlog past as Johnny and Frog unslung their packs and handed over the storage devices containing the data. They were about to leave when the intelligence officer laid a hand on Johnny’s arm. “Is there anything you want to tell us about the trip?”
He shook his head. “Maybe later, when the boss is awake.”
Frog caught the officer’s glance. “What he said.”
They’d reached the corridor and were on their way to their quarters when they met another officer. He hurried toward the hangar when he saw them but changed direction, and his gaze scanned them until he saw Stephanie.
Without stopping to greet any of the team, he stopped directly in front of Vishlog and pointed at her. “I need to speak to her.”
He started to reach for her but the Dreth turned her out of his reach and looked at the team leader. “Would you mind holding her for me?”
Lars nodded, happy to do it, and took her carefully in his arms. Vishlog sniffed and turned toward the officer, the motion followed through with a jab directly to the face. The officer went down like a sack of potatoes and Lars choked on his own laugh in his effort not to wake Stephanie.
The warrior dusted his hands off and reclaimed her as he explained, “He might have woken her up.”
Given how the officer had been moving and the fact he hadn’t bothered to lower his voice when he’d seen she was asleep, Lars couldn’t disagree. He merely followed when Vishlog stepped over the officer to continue up the corridor.
They turned the corner before their quarters to find a Naval security team waiting. Marcus pursed his lips and patted Vishlog’s broad shoulder. “Uh oh. Don’t worry, dude, get her inside. We’ll take care of this.”
He jogged ahead and signaled for the others to follow him. When they were ahead of Vishlog, he turned and moved backward as he spoke to them. “Let’s form a chorus line, boys, exactly like we did when Lars celebrated ten and we didn’t want the captain to see him wasted.”
“Yeah, baby,” Frog replied and pumped his fist.
Lars furrowed his brow. “I can’t believe I don’t remember that.”
Johnny grinned. “With the amount of alcohol you’d drunk that night, we were surprised you even made it back to the barracks. Now, though, we’ll line up and create a walk-through for Vishlog to walk down.”
“Got it.” Lars chuckled.
Marcus clapped. “Good. All right, Morgana’s Team…of…fighting…bodyguards… Assemble!”
The guys walked up to the security team, then stood in front of them with their backs turned as they locked arms and blocked the corridor. One of the guards tapped Lars on the shoulder.
“Hey.”
He shushed him. “Give us a minute. We need to get the Federation’s witch to her quarters.
Frustration turned to anxiety. “Is she hurt?”
The team leader kept his arms rigid, aware of the subtle pressure to test the strength of the line. “Something like that.”
They held the ship’s security team at bay long enough for the Dreth to slip into their quarters and carry Stephanie through to her room. Once he had passed, Frog yanked the door closed behind him and the team leader stepped in to lean against it. The cats arranged themselves aroun
d his feet.
Bumblebee fixed the security chief with glittering eyes, lifted a forepaw, and extended his foreclaws to clean them one by one. The chief was unimpressed. “Not very subtle, is he?”
Lars glanced down but kept the chief in his periphery. “No, but he’s a cat. Subtlety is not his strong suit.”
“I take it you know why we’re here.”
Lars tilted his head at the door. “I have a fair idea.”
“Will you hand him over?”
“Can we talk about it?”
The chief sighed. “I’m listening.”
“Did you watch the feed?”
“Not yet.”
“Well, when you do, you’ll see the lieutenant intended to wake her, regardless of what we said. Not even your intelligence folk were that foolhardy—and you can check that on the feeds, too.”
“Uh huh. And your point is?”
“If we’d said no, there’d have been an argument and she’d have woken anyway, and that would have been a very bad thing. Decking him was the fastest way to avoid that.”
“You don’t say.” The chief’s eyebrows raised but he didn’t look convinced.
Lars remained propped against the door, and Zeekat moved to sit on the side the chief was on. Several of the security men shifted uneasily and their hands slid to their sidearms. Their superior signaled for them to stand down.
The team leader hurried to explain. “Have you watched the mission feed? I’m sure the pilot’s transferred it by now and you’ve seen the reports on what she did for the Meligorn Dreamer.”
The chief looked thoughtful and Lars pressed his advantage. “She’s not in a good mood right now, and she’s worse when she’s woken suddenly. You need to decide if you want a woman who can pull the magma of a small planetoid up to the surface to be rudely awakened by an idiot when you have this much power all around you.”
He tilted his head and kept his body over the door handle, glad that Johnny and Marcus had come to lean on the wall on either side of him.
“Do us all a favor, Chief, and check the feeds. If you still want to talk to me about Vishlog’s response, by all means, come and talk to me. It’s not like we’re going anywhere.”
He left two men to guard the door. “You understand,” he said crisply.
Lars gave him a tight-lipped smile and gestured to Avery and Marcus. “Keep them company.” He met the chief’s gaze. “I understand.”
His expression displeased, the officer pursed his lips and nodded. “I’ll be back.”
The team leader maintained his smile while the rest of the security team left. “Marcus, Avery, no one enters or leaves unless I say so.”
“Gotcha boss.” They took up their posts on either side of the door and suppressed their grins as the two Navy security men settled in on the opposite side of the corridor.
Once the door had closed after the rest of the team. Marcus glanced at Avery. “Lars is seriously killer-bad.”
Avery turned and folded his arms over his chest. “Mhmm. Always has been, always will be.”
The two snickered and settled in for their watch.
Vishlog set Stephanie on her bed and draped a blanket over her. When he was satisfied that she was comfortable, he left the room and closed her door carefully behind him.
A glance at the door to the common room showed it was shut. He eased the tension in his shoulders and stood at ease outside her room.
After a few minutes, Lars and all but two of the team entered. The team leader walked over, smirked, and put his hands in his pockets.
“I’m sorry I punched that officer,” Vishlog said before Lars could say anything.
He waved it off. “He was being an asshole and tried to push it when she was asleep. If he’d woken her up like he planned to do, she might have fried him and she’d have been upset.” He paused. “It’s better if she’s not upset. I’m not worried about that. If they come to take you away, go pleasantly—and take some popcorn for when she comes to get you out. I’m sure it will be entertaining.”
Vishlog raised an eyebrow and thought about it, then they burst into muffled laughter.
In the High-Security Sector of the Washington Revere, the captain, the head of security, and the chief of intelligence stood in the main intelligence center, watching the mission at double speed. They stood quietly and tried to determine what their next move would be.
Captain Shale raised her hand. “Play it normal speed here.”
They’d reached the point where Stephanie pulled the energy in the rebel control center. She drew so much that the translucent gleam became visible as mist-like sheets and grew even clearer as heat shimmered off the floor.
“Are her eyes black?” the captain asked, and the intelligence officer cleared his throat.
“Yes, ma’am. The files note this is a state Stephanie falls into when something called the Morgana is in control.”
“Morgana is her surname.”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“So the name has a history.”
“That is possible.”
“Find it,” the captain ordered.
“Yes, ma’am.”
They fell silent as Frog and Johnny discovered the worm that destroyed the security system. All of them gave a small sigh of relief as the guys pulled their gear out of the system before it was infected.
“They didn’t mention that when they handed the data over,” the chief of intelligence muttered.
“They probably assumed they’d gotten clear in time and you didn’t need to know,” the security head told him.
“Even so—”
He was interrupted by the moment when Stephanie finished pulling in energy and dropped to her knees.
“I wouldn’t touch her,” the intelligence officer said.
“No, she’s Stephanie, again. See?”
“Pause the feed,” the captain ordered.
It stopped and the intelligence officer focused on her eyes. The darkness was fading and some of the girl’s natural blue shone through, albeit dulled by fatigue.
“She seems fairly out of it there,” the captain pointed out.
The intelligence officer didn’t comment but resumed the feed.
“Tiny legs,” he snorted as Vishlog picked Stephanie up and the team began to race to the gunboat.
“It’s a good thing you sent the marines,” the head of security noted when the team reached the base doors.
“I like their trigger control,” the captain added when Johnny smacked Lars’s gun down. “Give them my compliments.”
“Will do, ma’am,”
As the team scrambled into the gunboat, the intelligence officer switched the feed to the boat’s external view of the magma working its way out of the mountain. They stared as it turned into a volcano and erupted, their eyes wide when they realized Lars hadn’t been boasting.
“She really did create a volcano,” the security chief breathed.
“And she really doesn’t deal well when her men are hurt or threatened,” the captain added, and reminded them of Stephanie’s reaction when Brendan’s ship had been clipped.
“Noted,” he answered, and they watched the feed until the volcano had sunk back into the mountain.
The intelligence officer ended the feed, and the captain cleared her throat. “Boseman wanted to wake her up and get answers when the Dreth punched him?”
They’d watched the ship’s feed of the incident, and it was obvious that this was what the lieutenant had intended.
The security chief nodded. “Yes, ma’am.”
She gave him a stern look. “Tell Boseman to get his head outta his ass after they fix his jaw. Piss that witch off on my ship when she’s just melted a mountain? The man is out of his mind.”
When she really thought about it, her face darkened with anger. “I won’t have him endangering my ship or my crew. Tell him the next time he pulls a stunt like that, he’ll be in the brig pending trial.”
And with that, she turned an
d stalked toward the door but paused as she reached it. “Tell everyone to let her wake up on her own.”
Lars knocked on Stephanie’s door the next morning.
“Come in,” she called and unlocked it with a wave of her hand.
He stuck his head in and she smiled and gestured him closer. She sat in a lotus position, her legs crossed and palms upturned while she floated a foot above her bed.
Not quite sure what to make of it, he studied the air between her and the sheets and noticed the faint lines that suggested she was pulling energy. “Do you need any breakfast, or will this do it for you?”
She chuckled. “The energy doesn’t fill my stomach. I’m starving. I feel like I could eat a mountain.”
Lars raised a brow. “Hopefully not one that’s on fire.”
“No. I’ve had my fill of hot and spicy.”
They both laughed and he motioned toward the common room. “I’ll head down to the mess and bring it back. Normally, I’d say let’s all go out, but I don’t want to take Vishlog and run the risk of losing him to Security—and if he doesn’t go, none of us do. I’d rather not test the Navy on this one.”
She raised an eyebrow. “Oh?”
“He slugged an officer on the way in. The guy was going to wake you and looked set to argue, so Vishlog knocked him out.”
“I slept through that?”
“You were pretty out of it. You wouldn’t have slept through an argument, though, and I’ve seen you when you’re woken. It’s not pretty.”
She smirked. “Worried about Morgana, huh?”
“She’s nothing on you when you haven’t had your first coffee.”
Stephanie arched an eyebrow. “Speaking of which...”
Lars backed hastily away from her and raised his hands. “I’m going. I’m going.”
“Hey, Lars...”
He stopped, his face wary. “Yes?”
“Tell Vishlog, thanks. The last thing I want is to blow up a spaceship because I got woken up wrong.”
He grinned. “Coffee, right?”
“And stat!”
He pretended to flee, laughed, and snagged Avery and Brenden on the way out. To his surprise, the ship’s security officers were no longer outside their door.
Witch Of The Federation (Federal Histories Book 2) Page 67