Sac'a'rith (32 page)

“Zah’rak, you’re fighting like a mundane
,
”
sent Raquel privately.
“Let me show you how a battle wizard fights.”

I turned to her and said, “Raquel, if you’ve got any ideas, don’t wait for an invitation.”

“Purwryn, come about to new heading 147 mark 90, and reduce thrust to twenty-five per cent,” she said. Purwryn started to object but Raquel continued. “Ragnar, prepare an ECM cloud to drop on my mark. Marcus, I’m entering in new targets. The instant they are in range of our shiny new cannons, take them out.”

Everyone moved to follow their orders. I noticed that the targets she picked were drone bays on a large carrier. That would’ve made sense, but we were a far distance from it and would be cut down long before we could reach it.

“Everyone ready?” she asked, as the Cyborg fighters switched from their scatter tactic and came straight at us.

We all replied in the affirmative, and she said, “Ragnar, in thirty seconds launch the cloud.” The electronic counter-measures cloud was one of the upgrades that Crivreen had managed to sneak in while we were docked. It was a cloud of miniature drones that would broadcast out on all frequencies and would temporarily blind everyone’s sensors to our presence by overwhelming them with input. For a moment while the cloud was operating nothing would be able to target us, and all weapons systems should lose their locks. We’d be like a supernova going off inside their displays. With luck we might even overload them, but that wasn’t very likely.

Ragnar nodded and Raquel began to cast. I was annoyed because I knew what it cost her, but didn’t dare interfere with her plan. I kept an eye on the incoming fighters.

Suddenly I felt the whole world shift and twist around us. It was nothing like the experience of travelling through jump space, nor was it like teleporting, but we definitely moved from one physical location in space to another without crossing the distance between. It felt as if we had suddenly turned to rubber and someone was bending and stretching us. I was sure that, wherever we went, my head and left shoulder arrived long before my feet did.

I watched in amazement as the tactical screens all updated themselves, showing our new location within range of the targets on the carrier. We had crossed hundreds of kilometers of space in an instant, leaving the fighters long and far behind.

“Firing,” called out Marcus as our cannons ripped apart the drone bays on the carrier.

Raquel looked a little worn out from that spell, but called out new targets. “Marcus, for the next wave of targets use the new anti-matter missiles. I want to take out their jump drives.”

“Okay,” he said and, with a speed possible only for an enhanced human, his hands flew to target the missiles while still working the targeting for the cannons.

“Cyborg fighters coming in hot and fast!” called out Ragnar.

“Missiles away!” shouted Marcus.

I left the captain’s chair and moved to assist Ragnar at the science station. He was learning our technology, but had still some way to go. “Raquel, my guess is that their carriers are running the jump jammers. They’re the only things massive enough to generate so large a graviton field.”

“Agreed,” she said and punched the comm. “Shira, head to engineering. Crivreen, pull five warheads off the missiles and get them ready for simultaneous remote detonation.”

“Confirmed hit!” called out Marcus.

“Excellent! Come about to new target and rip open a hole for me, as deep as you can,” she said.

“Less than thirty seconds until the fighters are in range,” I said. I had my back to the bridge and was focused on monitoring the battlefield. Phareon’s fleet was not faring well at all. They were being pushed back as they attempted to counter the faster and more nimble Cyborg fleet. If something didn’t change soon, they’d be wiped out.

“Four minutes till we’re in range of target,” said Purwryn.

Then everything shifted again and Marcus called out, “Target in range; firing!”

“Crivreen, have you got my bomb ready yet?” asked Raquel over the comm.

“Yes,” he replied.

“Put it into an airlock. Shira, I’m going to get you a line of sight. I want you to send that bomb as deep as you can into the hole we opened in the carrier, as fast as you can. Then stand by to assist Crivreen in engineering.”

“Okay!” Shira responded.

“Three minutes until the fighters are in range. A second squad of fighters is on its way, five minutes out of range,” I said.

“Keep tunneling, Marcus,” said Raquel.

“Ready!” called out Shira over the comm.

“Marcus, cease fire. Shira, send over our package,” ordered Raquel. As they obeyed, she turned to Ragnar. “Transmit this message to the Cyborgs: We are ambassadors from the Wizard Kingdom; break off your attack on our vessels and leave this sector, or risk war.”

“They won’t care,” said Marcus.

“Oh, they’ll learn to care. We’re no simple primitives.” There was ice in her voice as she spoke.

“Package delivered,” said Shira.

“Any response to our message?” asked Raquel.

“A third fighter group is headed our way,” I said. I wondered what she meant by ‘primitives’.

“Detonate the package,” she said.

I’m not sure of the order of events, but the world shifted again as it had twice before and our makeshift bomb exploded, seemingly at the same time. The section of the carrier where the antimatter had been placed twisted and bent as the energy from the blast tore through it. The squads of fighters coming to intercept us were destroyed by the shrapnel and expanding wave front of energy. The carrier was badly damaged, but not destroyed; it was simply too massive for our small missiles to take down.

“Come about to 235 mark 15,” ordered Raquel.

I studied the tactical display. “The jamming grid is broken! There are gaps now.”

“Excellent,” she said. “Marcus, drone bays on the second carrier, target them all and prepare to fire again. Ragnar, notify Hospital Station about what’s going on out here and request assistance.”

I looked back over at Raquel. “You mean to eliminate this fleet?”

“They’ll retreat once they realize they can’t win this round. They still think we’re mere primitives and can be ignored. They need to know that we are not to be trifled with, or they’ll make a move on Hospital Station,” she said.

“Won’t it seem like we’re merely helping Phareon?” I asked.

“Most likely not. Remember, the Cyborgs hate everyone and everyone hates them, so even if Resden had a fleet out this way, they’d probably come to help too.”

“Ragnar, repeat our message,” she said. When the message was sent she cast, and the world around us once again shifted and bent. Marcus started firing at the carrier that was in range. Our antimatter missiles were tearing massive holes in its defensive armor, but we just didn’t have enough firepower to cripple a target as large as a carrier.

“We’re almost out of missiles,” said Marcus without emotion. “Should we cut a hole in this one, too?”

“Save what we have left for now,” said Raquel.

“Fighters will be in range in two minutes,” I said as two more squadrons turned to intercept us.

“Ragnar, any word from the hospital?” she asked.

“Defense forces are amassing now and should be here in forty minutes,” he said.

“Inform Phareon that reinforcements are on the way. We need to take down that jamming field,” she said as she studied the display. “There! New primary targets!” She punched some keys on the command console and Marcus quickly eliminated whatever she had targeted.

“That did it! Graviton field collapsing!” I called out.

“Ragnar, find me another shadow to hide in. Zah’rak, get ready on the ECM. We’ll need another cloud soon.”

“Found one,” called out Ragnar and he lit up a target on the display.

“Okay. Zah’rak, twenty seconds after I begin to cast, release the cloud. Purwryn, as soon as we arrive, bring us to zero relative so we can reassess our options.”

“Fighters incoming!” I said.

I watched Raquel cast again and counted down from twenty seconds, as she had ordered. On cue, I released the ECM cloud and moments later we were elsewhere.

We were sitting in the sensor shadow of one of the carriers while the battle raged on around us. I studied the display, trying to find something to be happy about, but Phareon was still being beaten back and there was little hope for them at this stage. If a wizard fleet didn’t get here soon, there might be nothing left to save.

“I estimate the Cyborgs will guess our hiding location in seven minutes,” said Marcus, still in a completely emotionless voice. He had used it when being interrogated. At that time I thought it was just to annoy the agent, but perhaps it was a way of dealing with stress instead.

“How do you figure that?” I asked.

“Easily, Zah’rak. It won’t take them long to guess what we’re doing, and once they do, they’ll begin sweeping all the sensor shadows out here and eventually find us,” said Raquel.

“Now what?” I asked.

“The Cyborgs still think that we’re primitives and they need to learn we are more advanced than that, otherwise Hospital Station won’t be safe from attack,” said Raquel.

“The fleet is coming,” I said. The wise course seemed to be to wait for them to eliminate the Cyborgs without taking any undue risks ourselves. That did mean Phareon would be in trouble, but they were already as good as dead. I was more concerned about my team making it out of this mess.

“Yes, and that’s good. You all need training and this is a good time to show off the power of a Dragon Knight.”

“A ‘Dragon Knight’?” I repeated.

“It’s the elite division of the Battle Wizards. They fight with completely unconventional means for a wizard and I mean to train you in their ways. Dragon Knights use a mixture of technology and magic and, unlike traditional magi, they prefer to fight behind enemy lines.” She walked closer to the tactical display and examined the data. She was rapidly paging through the screens but not saying anything.

“Raquel, Phareon is wondering where we are and if we need assistance,” said Ragnar.

“Don’t respond. It’ll give away our position,” she said.

“Okay,” he replied.

I wondered what she was looking for. She stopped at a large overview of the entire battlefield, her finger tracing lines on the screen, but I couldn’t figure out the pattern.

“There! Computer, designate this as alpha target,” she said.

I spun around to the science terminal and pulled up the data on the target. “The target appears to be a run-of-the-mill destroyer, upgraded with Cyborg technology.”

“Yes, and we’ll eliminate it,” she said.

“How? We’re almost out of missiles,” I said.

“Master Shadow taught me a thing or two about weaknesses in military craft engine systems which can only be exploited from the inside. We don’t have a spellweaver to do it the way he does, but I think I can manage it another way,” she said.

“Spellweaver?” I queried.

“Inside?” said Purwryn at the same time.

“Yes, inside. Purwryn, Zah’rak and I will board the ship, destroy it from the inside, and bail out before they can do anything about it,” she said. “Marcus, I’ll need you to take over navigation in addition to tactical.”

“Yes, ma’am,” was the monotone reply. Purwryn and I turned in surprise. I asked, “How?”

“Come with me,” she said, already exiting the bridge.

Purwryn looked at me. I shrugged and said, “Ragnar, take command until I return,” then followed her off the bridge.

She headed for the mission ready room, turned to us and said, “Put on your full battle gear. Our goal will be to get into the engine room and sabotage the ship.”

I started to ask for more details, but she raised a finger to stop me. Over the comm. she said, “Get ready for another transition. After we move, keep us at zero relative to alpha target, as close to the hull as you can manage.”

“Understood,” said Marcus.

The three of us donned our full battle armor and loaded up on wands, blasters, and other weapons. Once we were ready, Raquel cast her spell and I felt space twist again. The sensation was disorienting but something I was starting to get used to. Shira had said a traveler couldn’t be caught, and seeing Raquel using some of her spells for the first time seemed to reinforce that. If she could bend the fabric of reality like this to change her position, what chance had any mundane of keeping up?

We moved into the airlock and teleported out of the ship onto the hull of the destroyer. Purwryn and I followed Raquel as she drifted through space, flying over the hull,
always within reach of it. She finally grabbed a handhold and stopped herself.

She was overlooking what seemed to be the window of a private room. It amazed me that spacecraft had windows at all; they were much weaker than the armor around them, and couldn’t give as good a view as a basic viewing screen. They also made it simple for a magus to board a hostile craft.

It’d be a good idea to cover the windows on the Night Wisp
, I thought to myself, somewhat annoyed that the idea had only just occurred to me.

Raquel pointed to a window and sent,
“Teleport in through there. Alarms will go off almost immediately, so we’ll make a mad dash for engineering. Use wands and staves at first; save your spell energy for the final push.”

“Staves
?
”
I queried.

“Yes. Your staff will act as an extra large wand,”
she sent.
“Follow my lead.”

She teleported in through the window, and we followed. As she’d predicted, the lights in the room turned red and an alarm blared throughout the ship.

“Odd; Cyborgs don’t need audible alarms. Must be left over from the previous occupants,” commented Raquel. She drew her swords, opened a door and called out, “This way!”

We didn’t get far before Cyborgs were marching on our position. I took aim with my assault rifle and blasted away, but they were using a combination of body armor and portable blast shields to render my weapon ineffective.

Purwryn had a pair of Crivreen’s wands in his hands and sent bolts of lighting down the corridor, which was far more devastating than my trusty rifle. The bolts seemed almost alive as they arced from the walls to the Cyborgs and back. Used against creatures whose bodies were mostly metal and salt water, lightning was a truly horrific weapon.