Witch Of The Federation V (Federal Histories Book 5), page 36
He waited for a moment, then shook his head. “I’m sorry, sir, but we can’t go sooner. Getting the data into the right hands could save more lives than those in the hold.”
Emil could see his point, but Todd’s lips still twisted with regret as he replied. “Yes, sir. I’m sorry, too.”
If the truth be told, he’d rather liberate the prisoners and the fact that the data could save more lives provided scant comfort. Todd wanted nothing more than to ditch the mission and ride to the rescue.
From what he could see of his team’s faces, they felt the same way too.
“They’ve given up on the lock and they’re starting to cut.” Gary’s news brought him back to the situation at hand.
“I gotta go, sir. We’re about to have company.”
He signed off and nudged Ka. “If you have what you need, I want a way to not start a running gun battle for another ten minutes.”
“You mean another way out, boss?”
“Yeah.”
“Good, because I think I have you covered.”
When Todd signed off, all hell was breaking loose on the Teloran command deck.
“Of course there are foreign communications. I can see the damn ship for myself.” The captain snarled his fury, his voice as brittle as breaking ice.
“The origin’s local, sir.”
“You said that!”
The communications technician swallowed hard. “From this ship, sir.”
“They’re here?”
“Yes, sir.”
“On my ship?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Find them! I want them captured and brought here. We will know why they’ve come.”
“Yes, sir!”
The technician turned away and relayed the orders. All around the vessel, a different alarm sounded.
“The Witch’s blood is not all I’ll have,” the captain promised in a voice like death.
“Knight, recalibrate targeting to avoid hitting sector nine-eight-three.” Emil’s voice came to Stephanie as if through a shroud. “There are POWs on board.”
Shock rippled around the command deck and she froze. There were prisoners of war? On that ship?
We need to rescue them, she told the presence that had descended around her.
No. There are more important things at stake, the Morgana replied.
There is nothing more important than getting my people out of there!
What would you know, child?
I know that we will go and get those people and that you will not stop me.
Not. Right. Now.
Wanta. Make. A. Bet? Stephanie grasped the shroud and pulled.
I said no! the Morgana snarled and pressed hard against her mind.
She pushed back, called on the store of gMU, and spun it into a blend of MU and eMU.
Oh, yeah? she challenged and pushed the power into the Morgana’s presence inside her head. Well, guess what?
The reply was silky with sarcasm. What, child?
With mental focus, she took hold of the other presence and, instead of trying to throw her out of her head, pinned her to one side of her mind. You’re not the boss of me.
The Morgana snorted in amusement and tried to wriggle free.
Uh-uh, she told her. We have prisoners to rescue. That’s my priority. We’ll talk about your priorities when we’re done.
The darker self struggled against her hold, only to have her use another surge of MU to bind her in place.
We most certainly shall, she snarled as the girl ensured her bindings would hold and gave her a satisfied smile.
Stephanie’s smile grew wider. I look forward to it, she promised and held the Morgana in place as she surfaced. “Lars! Get me Johnny, Frog, Marcus, and Vishlog. Captain, I need an empty room. Knight, you’re in control of defenses. Do your best to keep them busy."
“I shall keep them very busy,” the Knight reassured her. “Come back soon.”
“And good luck,” Emil added, knowing it was pointless to order her not to go. She wouldn’t be their Witch if she didn’t and she’d never forgive herself, either.
“Make sure they’re—”
“We’ve got this, Steph!” Lars snapped and cut her off. “Just tell us where you want us to be.”
“Conference Room Three,” Emil supplied as Stephanie’s head snapped toward him.
“Conference Room Three,” she commanded, but the security head had already left.
Only Vishlog remained and waited to follow where she led next.
“Why aren’t you preparing?” she demanded and he gave her a toothy smile.
“Because my place is to protect you and I trust Lars to prepare what I need.”
She opened her mouth to argue but the Dreth merely looked at the forward viewscreen and then the door.
“What do you want to do—defend the Knight while you wait or prepare yourself for battle?”
Stephanie froze and gave him a stern look. She pursed her lips and raced to the door with him close behind her. Emil didn’t turn his full attention to the battle until his screen flashed a warning.
‘Hard a-port!” he ordered. “Knight, stand by to skip in three…two…”
He already missed having the Morgana on deck.
“Piet, I need that hole and I need it yesterday!”
“Like you really want me to hurry a cutting charge, Sarge.” It wasn’t a question but Todd answered it anyway.
“It’s either me or the assholes burning their way through the door. Your choice.”
“Well, since you put it that way,” Piet grumbled and made a final check on his handiwork. “Cover!”
The team ducked and the charge detonated. Angus and Henry took the lead.
“I can only make it go boom if I can see it,” Angus told the other man and pushed him back to be the first through the hole. He looked at his sergeant. “We need you to stick around.”
Todd reversed quickly toward them. “I don’t care how useful you all are, we need to hurry. She’s coming.”
“Who’s coming?” Piet asked as he hurried after Angus and Henry and Ka stepped through at his side.
“The Morgana,” he stated in clipped tones.
“I thought it was Stephanie,” Jimmy said quickly and fired short bursts across the room behind them.
“Yeah,” Gary agreed. “Wasn’t it the scary girlfriend who was coming to the rescue and not the scariest girlfriend?”
“No plan survives contact with the enemy,” Todd told them. “I don’t know what will happen when Stephanie gets here. The Morgana seems to have a hard-on for these pricks.”
“Well, crap,” Henry muttered caustically. “That’s all we need. A rogue mage is bad enough.”
“She’s not a rogue.”
“Oh no, she’s merely an independently minded woman.”
“You might as well have called her a rogue.”
The questionable “rogue” had geared up and now stood in the middle of Conference Room Three. She tapped her foot as she watched Frog and Marcus wrestle with the cats.
“I thought you two would have had them on standby,” she grumbled and mentally sifted through what she’d done while she tried to guess exactly what she’d need on the mission.
“We did,” Frog protested and nudged Bumblebee in the ribs, “until some asshole cat decided he was gonna try to chew through his chest harness.”
The asshole cat blinked and dabbed his purple tongue at the man’s gauntleted hand, and he jerked it away. He shook his finger at the feline.
“Don’t you go trying to kiss and make up after the shenanigans you’ve pulled.”
Bee sneezed at him, and he ruffled the fur on the cat’s head.
“Yeah, that’s more like the furry fucker we’ve come to know.”
“And love,” Vishlog rumbled. “Don’t forget the love.”
“I don’t know, Vishlog. Right now, the only love I feel is the need to plant my Size Nine up his ass.”
Marcus laughed and the Dreth looked from one to the other, his eyebrows raised. “What did he do?”
“They,” his teammate emphasized. “What did they do? Honestly, you’da thought we were on a cruise ship and not a destroyer in the middle of a fucking battle.”
Zeekat tilted his head and gave the man a wide-eyed stare.
Marcus returned the look and curled his lip. “And don’t you go trying to make out like you were innocent, mister!” he snapped. “You know exactly what you did.”
Stephanie sighed. “What? Exactly what did he do?”
“Let’s simply say you’ll need to sleep in the spare bunk in Elizabeth’s suite until we’ve caught up with everything after the battle. It seems the cats become very territorial when there’s increased tension.”
She fixed Zeekat with a disgusted look. “You and me, mister…when this is done. You. And. Me.”
The feline yawned and licked his chest as though the death-stare she gave him was nothing more than a glance.
“Ugh! Cats!”
“You brought ʼem,” Frog reminded her and gave her a very cat-like look when she scowled at him.
She shrugged briefly. “Are we ready?” she asked, and Lars gave her a meaningful glare.
“Are you?”
“What is that supposed to mean?”
“It means is there anything else you need to do before we leave?”
Stephanie was about to retort that of course there was nothing else but stopped. She patted her weapons pouches, holsters, and hilts, and named each one.
“Blaster, rifle, sword, vibro-blade.” She summoned blue and purple light to crackle over her hands. “Magic—”
“Yeah…that,” Lars told her, and she frowned.
“What about it?”
“Well, let’s say I don’t want to explode if the wrong kinds mix—and I don’t want you to explode either.”
She wrinkled her lip and considered the alternatives. Either she could draw on her reservoirs of gMU to spin up MU and eMU to use on the Teloran ship, or she could drain both and go solely to nMU.
“I’ll be fine if I’m careful,” she replied, and he gave her a dubious look.
“And will we?”
“Sure, you will. I wouldn’t do anything to put you guys at risk. We’ve all lost enough as it is.”
“That be true,” Frog muttered.
“Word, bro.”
Stephanie smiled and let the magic flicker over her fingers. “Besides, this will give us more bang for our buck.”
“Yeah,” her security head agreed in wry tones, “that’s exactly what I’m afraid of.”
“Pfftt! Whatevs. Get your chicken-shit asses over here.”
Lars studied the rest of the team one more time before he signaled for them to stand beside her. Vishlog took a firm grasp of both cats and gave Frog a stern glare.
“They do not misbehave with me—” He stopped as Bumblebee bumped his thigh with his head and Zeekat made a blatant grab for the waist pouch where he usually kept the treats.
He swatted the black-and-white’s muzzle away from the pouch and scowled at his smaller teammate. “And they are good for honing your combat reflexes. Yours must be lacking.”
Chapter Twenty-Two
“What do you mean there are prisoners of war on board?” The king was horrified. “Where did they get prisoners of war?”
V’ritan shrugged, but his face was somber. “I don’t know, Your Majesty.”
“Get me the fleet!” He turned to his aide. “Prepare the shuttle. I’ll return to Meligorn’s Crown. None of our people will be left behind.”
He placed a fist against his companion’s bicep. “Selene’s fortune, my friend.”
The warrior captured his fist beneath his and the Royal Guard shifted restlessly. On the one hand, no one touched royalty. On the other, this was the Garghilum Afreghil.
The King’s Warrior turned and moved his monarch’s hand over his heart. “I beg your forgiveness, Your Majesty, but you cannot go into battle. This world needs its king.”
Grilfir tensed beneath his grasp. “Please, Your Majesty—Grilfir. As my king and my friend, I beg you to remember that you are not only your people’s head but also its heart. I cannot let you risk your life in battle.”
The king held his gaze for a long moment before he lowered his with a sigh. “Very well, Garghilum. I will remain.”
He raised his head and captured V’ritan’s gaze with his own. “But I will remain in orbit because, if I am this world’s head and heart, you may find yourself its heart and soul.”
“Exactly, and our people cannot do without both their hearts. Meligorn can continue without me, but you, my king—they need you.”
“And Elza?” Grilfir asked softly.
The Garghilum Afreghil winced, his face momentarily pinched by pain. He released his sovereign’s hand, leaned forward to place his lips close to Grilfir’s ear, and murmured, “That was a low blow, Your Majesty.”
“I’m the one who’ll have to tell her.” The king mirrored V’ritan’s gesture. “Our people’s sadness pales in comparison to hers.”
“It’s not a good idea to rip the heart out of your warriors immediately before they fight, my king,” he declared softly before he stepped back and bowed. He straightened and touched his fingertips to his forehead and breastbone before he extended his fist.
Grilfir returned his bow before he touched his knuckles to his friend’s. Those watching their faces saw the pain they masked quickly and knew they had witnessed more than a king and his warrior saying goodbye before battle.
This was the parting of two friends who desperately hoped to see each other again—and did not dare to hope.
“Ah, now they come out to play,” Stephanie observed. She sent multiple threads of blue into the first squad of Telorans to advance. “And they shall die like all the rest.”
The cats roared but Vishlog managed to restrain them. “This was not such a good idea,” he told her.
She turned and fixed the felines with a stern look. “Fight beside us,” she commanded and looked at the Dreth. “Let them go.”
He did as she ordered but he was not happy. “I still say this is not a good idea.”
The Witch ignored him. “Which way, Johnny?”
“In, forward, and down twenty.”
“Twenty?”
“You put us here.”
It was true but she’d used the information she had, which had indicated that the only safe teleport point was the corridor Todd and the team had used to enter the ship. One of the doors opening into it had been cut off its hinges and a gaping hole led deeper into the vessel. Faint sounds of fighting could be heard from inside.
“That way?” she asked.
“It’ll do for a start,” Johnny confirmed.
“You only want to see your boyfriend, again,” Frog quipped from somewhere behind her. There wasn’t any point in locating him for a killer stare.
“I’d only distract him, dumbass,” she retorted instead, “and that would be bad.”
She stepped toward the doorway but Lars and Johnny moved through and took the lead. While she allowed herself a scowl, she didn’t argue. They were doing what Elizabeth had hired them to do. She didn’t have to like it, but she did have to let them do their jobs.
That didn’t stop her from cutting in front of Frog and Marcus and taking her place as close to the front as she was allowed to be. She tired of that three steps into the next room when more Telorans arrived.
Lars pivoted, activated the shield on his armor, and fired six rapid shots into the massed enemy. When the energy beam flickered over their armor, he switched to solids. The first two didn’t penetrate, but the third delivered in quick succession punched through. Unfortunately, it was stopped by the breastplate.
“Son of a bitch!” he swore, flicked to energy again, and fired.
This time, the beam powered through and the Teloran fell.
“Gotcha, and you, and—” Several balls of magic careened past him to envelop their adversaries’ heads before they exploded. “Sonuvabitch!”
“Do you talk to your momma with that mouth?” Frog snarked.
“Do you?”
“Boss, last time I saw your momma—”
“Don’t go there!”
They trotted after Stephanie, who pressed Johnny for a faster route.
“I’m really glad not all these guys have magic,” Marcus commented as Johnny gave an exasperated sigh.
“You want a faster route?” he asked and didn’t wait for an answer. “You need to pause long enough for me to get a better floorplan.”
Stephanie looked around. “What do you need?”
They all stopped and Johnny scanned the area in search of something that would help. “I need—”
“You need to ask Todd’s team to send you the one they already have,” Frog snapped impatiently.
They pivoted to glare at him.
“What? Do you want to invent the wheel twice?”
“Make the call,” she ordered and his jaw dropped.
“Me?”
“It was your idea.”
They hunkered against the wall while Frog found Ka’s frequency.
“You need a map?” the girl asked, and one appeared in their HUDs before she’d finished speaking. “Is that it?”
“Thanks,” Frog replied, his tone surprised.
“Good. Now get the fuck out of my head. We’re kinda busy.”
With that, she ended the contact but not before they registered the sound of battle. It was a weird blend of energy weapons and the clash of blades.
“Those guys get all the fun,” Vishlog grumbled, and the cats growled in agreement.
“We’ll simply have to find our own fun,” Stephanie told them and traced a new route before Johnny had a chance to do so.
She straightened and took the lead before either of her guards could stop her and strode forward without slowing for the rest of them to catch up.
“Dammitall, Steph!” Lars shouted and hurried to take his position alongside her.
“I’m not made of glass, you know.”
“Yeah, but Elizabeth—”
