Resurgence of Ancient Darkness (11 page)

“
Yeah, they are way too expensive for scavengers; plus it is too dangerous to use them in unclaimed space like this,”
she sent.

“
Meet me in central computing. Let’s see if there is another secret room,
” I sent.

“
Sure, but this time can we try not to anger the self-rebuilding robots?
” she asked.

We flew in to the central computer core and found nothing but boring computer innards. It was a bit of a letdown. “
Let’s head to engineering. That is probably the next most likely place to find anything.
”

“
Sure, but have we found a bridge yet?”
she asked.

“
No, but I guess they would not need one without a crew,”
I sent.

“
They would not need lighted hallways and airlocks either, but they have them. This is likely a normal hauler that was retrofitted with robotics.
”

“
Good point. Let’s look for that if engineering does not yield anything.
” From there we flew to engineering, which she had found in her pass through the ship earlier.

Once in engineering we passed in and out of everything that we could to see if there was any hidden rooms, or anything else that could help us explain the mysterious hauler. We had to be careful around the power plant, as our spell would not protect us from the massive energies that would be contained in that, but still we found nothing.

“
Everything about this ship matches the station, minus the hidden room,
” I sent.

“
Yeah, maybe we should stick with it a while,
” she replied.

“
Rocky, come in close to the hauler and be ready to follow it into jump space,”
I sent and then filled him in on what we had found so far.

“
Yes, Master. If they get away with you on board, what are my orders?”
he said.

“
Contact Master Shadow for help,
” I sent.

“
Understood, Master.”

“
Now, let’s find that bridge,”
I sent to Spectra.

“
It should be near the center of the ship,
” said Spectra. “
Though with most of the ship being empty space for hauling, the bridge would probably be along the inside of the innermost hull.
”

“
Ok, lead on,”
I sent.

I am not sure how much time passed, but we finally found the bridge. Manning it were five men, if you could call them that. They were partly living and partly machine.

“Cyborgs,”
sent Spectra with obvious disgust.

I flew over to their captain’s status panel. “
It looks like they will be salvaging for another hour or two, at least. Let’s see what we can find out by ...”

Before I could complete that thought their tactical alarms went off. They all moved seemingly at once and began calling out orders; “Close the hatches,” “Align for jump,” and other similar commands were being sent.

“
Time to go,
” I said, and we flew back to the Fox at high speed. “Rocky, what is going on?”

“It looks like competition just showed up, Master,” he said.

“Get us out of the crossfire,” I said as I saw more and more fighters de-cloaking and fighting. “Any chance they will find us?”

“No, Master. Not unless we are hit by stray weapons fire,” said Rocky.

“Get us out of here, then, and once we are safe, jump,” I said.

“Heading, Master?” he asked.

“Towards last known location of the Nevermore II. Just get far enough away that we can safely call Master Shadow without being detected.”

“Dusty, a third group of fighters is coming in, right along our escape route,” said Spectra.

“Options?” I asked.

“We are between the new group and the two old ones, Master. We either try to drift away from the fight under low power, or we drop our cloak and jump out. We should be able to jump out without any issue if we are quick about it. The longer we wait the more scavengers will show. This is a pretty valuable haul,” said Rocky.

“Jump us out then,” I said.

For a brief moment we lowered our cloak so that we could engage our jump drives, and the fight seemed to pause briefly as we appeared. As we de-cloaked in the middle of active combat their scanners quickly identified us.

“Dusty, we are being hailed by all of them. Each is asking for assistance,” said Spectra.

“Respond to all of them with: ‘This is your fight, not ours,’” I said.

“Sent,” said Spectra just before we jumped out of the fight.

Once we cleared the jump I said, “Rocky, send an update to the Nevermore and request rendezvous coordinates.”

“Yes, Master,” he said.

Spectra and I left the bridge and headed to the gym. She was insistent on teaching me the basics of physical combat.

“I still don’t see why this matters,” I said as we entered the gym.

“Just get in the ring,” she said with a smile. “
I sense something; I can’t share more right now because I don’t really understand it.
Please just trust me on this. We must master this form of combat too.
”

“
We? You seem to be an expert already!”
I sent as I did my best to prepare to fight.

As she entered the ring she said, “On guard!” and then launched a kick right towards my face. In shock, I fell backwards. She took advantage of that and swept my leg out from under me, sending me flying towards the floor. “Dusty, focus. You need to learn to read your opponent. When my leg went high, I was committed to that attack vector. Instead of moving back you should have spun to the side. Now let’s try that combo again.”

She stepped back and her foot came up again. This time I tried to jump to the side as she said, but she still got me with the sweep, and all that the move to the side accomplished was my face hitting the floor instead of my back.

“Are you okay?” she asked.

“Yeah. I just don't have the head for this!” I said.

“That is because the material you are trying is too hard, Master,” came a deep voice from behind me.

I turned and saw Lythiran, my chief of security and a Dark Knight. “What do you mean?”

“May I demonstrate, Master?” he asked of Spectra.

“Sure!” she said.

I stepped out of the way, but he pulled me back over. Then he said, “Master Dusty, show me how you step to the side to avoid being hit.”

“Um, like this?” I asked as I slid over to one side.

“I see. Now try that again, but this time step more to an angle,” he said.

I did what he said, and for the next thirty minutes I did nothing but move to the left or the right on cue. Each time he would tweak some little thing, and then I would try again. Then he stepped aside and said to Spectra, “Master, try your kick now, exactly as before.”

“Okay,” she said and then kicked at my face again.

This time Lythiran called out, “Now,” seemingly before her foot even moved. I stepped to the side just as he had taught me, and Spectra’s kick went harmlessly by me.

“Wow,” I said as the momentum of her kick carried her past my position and out of range to throw her sweep.

“Great job, Dusty! I knew you could do it!” said Spectra.

“I am not sure how I did that,” I said.

Lythiran gave a toothy smile and said, “Master, you have a naturally lean body and fluid movements. You just need to work on fine control over your actions.”

“Lythiran, do you think you can teach him? I don’t seem to be doing nearly as well as you,” said Spectra.

“Master, it would be a great honor. But first, would you spar me? I would like to judge your level,” he said.

Spectra got an odd look in her eye, and her lips curled up into a snarl as she fell back into her favorite crouched posture from which to start a fight. “Bring it on.”

I quickly jumped out of the sparring area, more than a little concerned. I had never seen her like that before. She was much too shy, and less aggressive. She really looked like she was going to enjoy this contest, and enjoy it immensely. This was a far cry from the shy cat she had been back in school.

Lythiran smiled back with his forked tongue passing over his scaly face. “Best of three hits, then?” he asked.

“Agreed,” said Spectra.

Lythiran was much larger and stronger than Spectra. His reach was easily twice hers, and that powerful tail of his gave him an extra limb to fight with. I thought she surely stood no chance, but the moment the fight started that all changed.

Spectra moved with a speed and grace I had never seen before. Instantly she was a black streak flying through the air, and Lythiran clearly underestimated her as he moved much too slowly to block her first hit, a slash across his face with her hand. She didn’t have her claws extended, but it was clear if they had been he would probably have been blinded by that strike.

They faced off again, and this time Lythiran did not wait for Spectra to move. Instead he charged in straight down the middle. At first Spectra did not move, but as he closed in she suddenly sprang to one side. Hitting the ground and reversing direction in one fluid movement, she came up fast with a kick to his head. This time Lythiran was ready and ducked under her kick while sweeping around with his tail to catch her back leg. Spectra reacted by allowing his leg to hit and using his power to flip herself out of his reach.

Back and forth they went on like this. Spectra was faster and more nimble; Lythiran was stronger and had greater range. Both used their advantages to the utmost. Eventually Lythiran said, “I cede, Master Spectra. You are clearly the more skilled fighter.”

“Thanks for the workout. It has been a long time since I have had such a worthy opponent,” she said.

Only now could I see that she was panting very heavily, and Lythiran was not. “I can't teach you to fight better. Your skills are more than sufficient. However, you tire too quickly. Had this been a real fight, I would have outlasted you. I can help you with that, if you would like, Master.”

“I would be honored,” said Spectra.

“Then, Masters, let's plan to meet here for one hour every day. At this same time?” he asked.

“Um … ” I hesitated. I wasn’t sure I was really up for that.

“That would be great! I can watch you teach Dusty and learn that skill, at least,” said Spectra.

“Then with your leave, I bid you good night, Masters,” he said and left.

“What are you thinking? You could have been seriously hurt!” I said.

“Dusty, he is a master warrior, and a gentleman. I was never in any danger,” she said.

“It sure didn’t look that way to me!” I said.

She smiled mischievously then said, “Trust me; I know what I’m doing. Besides, I was going easy on him.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“That doesn’t matter. What does matter is that I just got you a proper teacher, so now you will learn,” she said.

“
I still don’t understand why it matters. I would never face off with him like this. A hold spell would work just fine!”
I sent.

She laughed and grabbed me around the waist. “
Come on, let’s clean up and get some dinner. I’ll cook something up for you back at my quarters.”

When we contacted the Nevermore II, they responded that they were in the middle of a fight and would get back to us soon. With Master Shadow and Master Flame away, I was left as ranking wizard in charge. I told Stalker to have Master Shadow contact me after their current fight, and we would sit tight until we heard from them.

After we had been waiting a full day I started everyone on work drills, but that was interrupted by an urgent call from Rocky. I quickly joined him on the bridge and asked, “What is it?”

“Master, three fast-attack cruisers just came out of jump space, and they are searching for us,” said Rocky.

“How do we know they are looking for us?” I asked.

“They are broadcasting on all frequencies vile language about killing all wizard scum,” said Spectra.

“That would be a good indication,” I said, “so let’s just quietly pull away.”

“Master, we could safely do that, but I would advise against it this time,” said Rocky.

“Why?” I asked.

“Master, we were sent to destroy that station because Master Shadow wants us to look strong in front of potential enemies. If we just sneak away from these guys, that could send them the message that we are weak and scared,” said Rocky.

“But how could they know we are here?” I asked.

“Master, I am not sure. Perhaps they picked us up as we exited the jump, before we could recloak,” said Rocky.

“Three cruisers. We are more than a match for them,” I said. I looked over the tactical display. The cruisers were sweeping back and forth, trying to draw us out. They were firing their weapons in random directions, probably hoping to make us nervous enough to do something stupid. “However, simply blowing them up will not send much of a message. If we’re going to send a message, let’s do it right. Let’s gather some troops.”

I left the bridge and gathered four of my best wizards in the
briefing room with Rocky and Spectra. “Everyone, here is the plan: Rocky will fly the Shadow Fox within teleport range of the enemy ships. We will then put two wizards on each of their ships. Your job once on board is to summon elementals and send them throughout their ships. The goal is to sow chaos and confusion. Be completely random in your attacks, and do not engage anyone directly. If you are in danger of losing, teleport out into space and wait for us to swing by and pick you up. Your armor will function well as a space suit for many hours. Spectra and I will take the lead ship; you two, take the second craft; and you two, get the third ship. Remember, the plan is that they fly back home and tell everyone what a nightmare it was to attack us, so we need enough survivors to pilot their cruisers home and tell the tale.”

“We will need line of sight to teleport,” gently reminded Spectra.

She was right. I forgot about that since our spells could pass us through the walls instead of teleporting. “You should be able to find a window on their airlocks to use for line of sight. If not, blast a hole in their hull and use that.”