Witch Of The Federation IV (Federal Histories Book 4), page 51
As the team hurried to obey, the technicians came over. “What’s up, boss?”
“We need to fly this thing.”
Their jaws dropped.
“Come again, boss?” she asked.
He glared at her. “You heard. I’ll take the command console. Ka, see what you can do with piloting and navigation. Piet, I need you on shields and guns.”
They frowned at him but didn’t argue and he went to study the captain’s boards.
“It sure would be nice if we could read Dreth now, wouldn’t it?” Piet snarked a few minutes later.
Ka dumped her overlay into his HUD.
“Thank you. Better late than never.”
“Don’t make me come over there.”
“Do it when you’ve worked out how to fly this monster.”
When she didn’t answer, Todd glanced over to make sure she was okay. He relaxed a little when he saw her head bent and a deepening frown as she started to move her hands across the console. More gunfire sounded, followed by a clang, several short explosions, and more Dreth screams from outside the command center.
Silence followed and Todd turned back to the controls in front of him. He had started to make sense of them when several heavy thuds drew his attention to the entry, and he watched the team return. Henry slapped Dru on the shoulder and she doubled over.
She fell onto her side, shaking and making breathless snorts that sounded close to tears. For a moment, he thought she was injured but then realized she was laughing so hard she was crying.
“You are one crazy motherfucker.” Henry sounded almost admiring.
Gary dropped to his knees, howling with laughter. “Did you see the looks on their faces?”
Jimmy shook his head and moved to the nearest dead pirate. Reggie caught Todd’s look.
“You don’t wanta know, boss. You honestly don’t wanta know.”
“You know I’ll find out when I watch the footage from the suit cams,” he told him as they pulled themselves together.
The man grinned. “Yeah, boss, but that’s later. Trust me, later is good.”
He wondered why as they proceeded to drag pirate bodies into a neat stack against the forward wall.
“Will this be a long flight, boss? Because this pile is gonna stink in a day or two,” Gary asked.
“I doubt it.” He kept working. The controls almost made sense. He tried to tweak one and Ka looked sharply at him. “Do that again.”
He complied and her face lit up. “I think I’ve got this now.”
There was a chorus of groans from the team and more than a few “uh-ohs” as well as one “bloody female drivers.”
“I heard that, Gaz. You and me are gonna talk when we’re done.”
“You keep promising.” He waggled his eyebrows.
“I am gonna kick your ass,” she declared.
“And I’ll help,” Jimmy added.
Gary rolled his eyes. “What is it with you girls all sticking together?”
“It’s us Marines sticking together,” the Scotsman scolded.
“Yeah,” Ka told him. “I’m gonna prove there’s a reason the Navy shouldn’t let us fly.”
“Uh…” Todd began and she snapped a look in his direction. “Do I have a say?”
She smirked. “Sure you do, boss. You can tell me which way and how fast.”
That was too much for Gary, who got halfway through an “ooh” before he collapsed into laughter.
“Go find a mop and bucket,” Todd snapped at him. “I want the slip and trip hazards gone by the time we arrive.”
He turned to Ka. “Get us into the fight. Those Navy kids need our help.”
“Aye, aye, Captain.”
“Don’t say that,” he argued. “I don’t want anyone getting any bright idea about giving me stripes. I like working for a living.”
He glanced at Piet. “We’re gonna need guns by the time we get there.”
“I’m working on it.”
From the captain’s boards, he could see that he was but that other sections of the ship were fighting him. “Ka…”
“Not right now, Captain. Flying…”
He thought about reprimanding her but realized he shouldn’t. The dreadnought was responding to her commands and came about slowly.
Across the battlefield, it was finally noticed and the course change caused alarm in the Naval ships that fought to keep the pirates at bay.
The surveillance office on Scanmer’s Arrow tapped his screen and his keyboard and his eyes widened in alarm. “Captain, we have that big bastard incoming.”
On the pirate ships, there were whoops of glee.
“Now, we shall crush them,” the captain of the R’grath Engeck declared. “Not even the Witch can stand before Hromgarth’s Rage.”
The mood would have been entirely different had they known that Hromgarth was dead, his spine shattered by the cutting charge Piet had detonated against his back and his torso shredded by the sections of heavy armor forced through it by the blast.
As it was, the Marine team didn’t celebrate their victory. Henry, Angus, and Piet were hunched over the weapons’ console, each one with a tablet hooked in.
“Are you there yet?” Todd asked and eyed the ever-shrinking distance between the dreadnought and the pirate fleet.
Angus narrowed his eyes. “Like hacking weapons systems was something we planned to do.”
“I’ll add it to the training schedule,” he promised him. “You can go first.”
“As if.”
Gary snorted. “Getting a little ahead of yourself, aren’t you, boss?”
“Yeah. Don’t we have to survive this first?” Reggie argued. “I mean, you, me, this lot, all on board a mostly broken ship, heading into battle with no gun support and a Navy that’ll soon be shooting at us.”
Todd flipped his hand at them. “Minor details.” He pointed at the pirate fleet on the view screen. “Ka! Ramming speed!”
Angus glanced at Henry. “Did he say ramming speed?”
On Dreth, chaos reigned. Warriors charged down the streets to be stopped by house champions. In one case, the family cook joined their ranks, skillet in hand. Dreth lords joined their servants. Household armories were opened to all.
The Telorans had friends on-world, and those friends had joined the fray.
“Kneel to the Telorans!” they demanded.
“Kneel and our world will be spared.”
“Kneel or die.”
“Never!”
“Dreth live free.”
The battles raged through the planetary capital. Houses that had been traditional enemies joined ranks to hold the Teloran sympathizers at bay. This would have worked better if the enemy had stuck to the standards of honor, but they didn’t.
Instead of meeting their opponents openly, they struck from the shadows and came over the rooftops and garden walls to set buildings alight and strike their enemies from behind. Some slaughtered their way to the rooftops and fired on the defenders from there.
The worst came with Teloran weapons and descended into the square facing the Dreth Coalition Council. Inside the council building, the Gathering was in an uproar with Teloran supporters attacking their fellow councilors.
Bodyguards and public servants fought to protect their masters or each other. Some of the guards were caught by surprise when their masters declared their support for the aliens. Others died as their house companions thrust poisoned blades between their ribs.
Blood ran down the aisles and along the council seats as the insurgents were killed. Alarms sounded through the city and the councilors called for assistance and learned of attacks in other cities.
“We fight for the future of our world,” the head councilor intoned. “We fight for the future of our race.”
He raised his voice. “We fight for Dreth!”
“For Dreth!” the surviving councilors and their guards roared in response. They ran to the entrance, intent on joining the fray, only to be met by the guards at the door and dragged back.
“Treachery!” Gravach shouted, but the guards denied it.
“You cannot fight for Dreth if you are dead,” the chief of security replied. “I want you to lead us. I want you to live another day. Come with me.”
The guard dragged him up the stairs leading to the council chambers and paused once when the councilor ripped his arm free of his hand.
“What is the meaning of this?”
The security chief pointed back. “I want you to live.”
Gravach glanced back and watched a sparkling black haze engulf the entrance. The walls disintegrated and each stone imploded to dust as if it were eaten by some invisible creature. Lights shattered and carpets smoked and vanished.
The cloud reached the rearmost Dreth and one died screaming as the flesh boiled from his bones and his bones crumbled to dust. Those ahead reached back to pull the ones in greatest danger out of its immediate reach.
“Come with me if you want to live,” the security chief insisted, seized his arm, and dragged him forward.
The rest of the coalition followed and all ran faster now to stay ahead of the devastating sparkle.
“What is that?”
“Do you remember the Witch’s conjuring when she fought for the right to defend us?”
Gravach felt ice fill his chest. He remembered.
“Hrageth’s balls and Tegortha’s heart! We have to stop it.”
“We’ll circle back but you cannot shut it down if you are dead.”
The wall ahead of them disintegrated.
“Someone is very determined to kill us,” he noted, but the security chief was already dragging him down another corridor.
“We can make it if we run.”
It was as optimistic as anything Gravach had ever heard, and he noted the colors on the security chief’s cloak. “You’re House K’Leth, aren’t you?”
“Vishlog is my nephew.” The chief didn’t slow but he heard the pride in his voice.
They emerged into the Dreth night.
“They caught many houses at table,” the guard told them. His voice was bitter and the head councilor wondered who he’d lost. He didn’t ask and dreaded the news from his own estate. The rulership of Dreth would have been singled out for special treatment and he doubted any were spared.
It tore his heart but he shoved the pain aside, glad the traditions had not banned weapons from the coalition. The reasoning was that allies should be able to walk armed together with no fear of betrayal.
That did not work so well, he thought as he recalled the events in the Coalition Hall, and he wondered how the discussion would go after. If there is an after.
They came around the corner of the building and burst from cover with a united shout of fury. Those operating the Teloran weapon looked up in shock, but those who stood guard reacted more quickly.
The security chief released Gravach’s arm and the two attacked side by side. This close to the weapon, they felt fury and outrage. Adrenaline spiked through them and they raced into battle.
Above the planet, Stephanie paused. Negative emotion boiled at the edge of her consciousness and it took her a moment to realize it wasn’t because of the pirates.
“Dreth!” she murmured and her eyes widened. She looked up and caught Captain Pederson’s eye.
“Dreth,” she repeated and watched his face twist in sympathy.
He gestured at the Navy ships. “If you leave, they will die.”
Chapter Fifty-Eight
The Ebon Knight spun on her own axis, slid through space, and fired with every turret she had.
“Aaaaand…jump!” Emil commanded and heard Cameron’s squawk of protest down the line.
He looked at Stephanie. “We need to let the engines cool,” he told her. “Can you hold it?”
“I got it,” she answered and didn’t look at Lars or Vishlog, both of whom were frowning.
Emil glanced at them. “Does she?”
Their gazes flicked over her and they nodded, but neither of them looked happy.
“I’m fine,” she told them and the Knight crackled with sapphire and amethyst fire.
The captain looked like he might follow with another question, but the comms tech looked in his direction and he stilled, obviously fielding a message via his internal comms. His face paled.
“Put it up on Main. Small screens only, please.”
Four small screens arrayed themselves down the side of the main viewscreen. Each displayed a section of the capital. One showed the strange device set up in the plaza in front of the Dreth Coalition Council Hall.
Stephanie closed her eyes. “I’m trying to concentrate here.”
From the outside, it looked as though the lightning tightened around the Ebon Knight’s hull before being abruptly released. As it arced out to the pirate ships that attempted to encircle the Knight, she opened her eyes.
Her jaw dropped and Emil was quick to respond.
“It looks bad down there, but if they lose their battle, we only lose the capital,” he told her. “But if the Navy loses, they will lose space.”
He watched as she processed it and her jaw worked silently as she started to respond but thought better of it. When he was sure she understood, he continued.
“I’d rather handle a guerrilla war than be on the ground dodging more rocks.” He looked at Vishlog for support.
The Dreth warrior had remained silent throughout the exchange, but his face was hard and the tusks on his lower jaw were showing. Seeing Emil’s glance, he nodded.
“It is your Navy who taught us the saying, He who is at the bottom of the gravity well hates his life.”
Lars was horrified. “Is that a Navy maxim?”
The captain shook his head. “No, merely a tactical reality.”
Vishlog gave Emil a sour look. “It might be true, but that does not mean I like it.”
“Sir! They’re closing!” The alert from the surveillance tech brought their attention back to the screens.
Despite the efforts from the Naval flotilla, the pirates continued to focus on the Ebon Knight and thus far, it had only been the ship’s nimbleness, sheer aggression, and constant gating that had saved it. Now, it looked as though the pirates would make one last concerted effort to eliminate the Witch.
As the Navy started to turn towards the incoming pirate behemoth, more and more of the smaller Dreth vessels targeted the Knight.
Jonathan finished turning the ship and sent her nose down to avoid the first missiles directed toward her engines. His second maneuver gave the weapons teams enough time to destroy most of the incoming barrage and for the shields to be shuffled into place.
“Shields to port. Full shields,” Captain Emil ordered. “Ship ascend and corkscrew me starboard. On my mark…”
“Aye aye, captain,” replied two voices, the Knight’s calm and feminine and Jonathan’s slightly hoarse with fatigue.
“Mark!”
The pilot worked the boards and the ship slewed and shuddered as the missiles impacted on her port shields. Lights flickered and scans shouted in alarm.
“Sir! Incoming starboard!”
The forward viewscreen showed one of the Dreth pirate battleships plowing through the parting ranks of the pirate fleet.
“Knight!” Jonathan yelled and tapped rapidly on the keyboard.
The Knight’s response was as calm as before. “Understood, LC Wattlebird.”
Cameron was not even close to calm. “We don’t have the juice to shield that side.” His frantic message crackled through the comms.
“Understood, Chief.” Their response was a ragged duet.
“She’s preparing to fire.”
“Understood.” Again, the Knight and her pilot spoke in eerie synch.
“Chief Hargreaves, we will commandeer your engines,” the Knight informed him and the Chief’s outraged yelp was lost to the sudden surge of power—and a palpable wave as the pirate vanished in a violent flare of orange light.
“Scans,” Emil demanded and gaped at the space where the pirate had been while he tried to look beyond it.
On the edge of Meligorn space, the Hrageth’s Favor paced The King’s Warrior. Both ships moved at flank speed but only the Warrior had close to thirty mages standing on its observation deck in the tightest circle they could form.
Tethis had been joined by the other two Teachers who had taken Stephanie through her trials for recognition as a Meligorn Master, Master’s Ashgren and Melistar. They stood equidistant around the circle with an equal number of teachers and students between them. All were focused on what Tethis had to say.
“We need to join together,” he told them, “and combine our energies to draw the kinetic energy from both ships and transform it into MU or eMU to create a gate to another system. I know this is new to you, but I’ve seen you practice and you are all more than capable of managing the energy transformation.”
He looked at them and met the gaze of each one. “You can do this. Trust each other. Trust the magic and stay focused.”
They nodded and he continued. “You all understand the theory of the gate and you’ve been able to follow me through the exercises, so I know you can shape the magic as it’s needed. I know you can blend your magic with each other’s magic, and I know you understand how to feed magic into another’s control.”
He caught looks of doubt around the circle and smiled. “And I will guide it. We need to gate The King’s Warrior to the System of Dreth to save that world. Dreth needs The King’s Warrior to save her. The Witch needs us there, or she will fall. And you have proven you can. Are you ready to leave Hrageth’s Favor behind?”
“Earth and Meligorn bleed,” they replied, having adopted the Meligornian battle cry and modified it for themselves. “For Dreth,” they added.
“Good,” Tethis told them. “Remember, only The King’s Warrior is to go through the gate, and she is to arrive with very little forward momentum. Remember the people inside.”
Again, he received a round of affirmatives and he clapped briskly.
“Then let us begin.”
