Defender of the Empire: Cadet #1 (35 page)

             
IT’S HIS FIRST TIME. Scrae said thoughtfully. HE NEEDED A SHOCK OF SOME KIND TO AFFECT THE CHANGE.  A CATALYST. I BELIEVE THE BEATING DID THAT. YOU GAVE HIM THE ENERGY HE NEEDED TO COMPLETE THE CHANGE.

And that helps me how?!

Scrae sighed. YOU NEED TO TELL HIM TO CONVERT THE MASS HE HAS GAINED BACK INTO ENERGY AND TO RELEASE IT BACK TO THE UNIVERSE. IT IS THE ONLY WAY HE WILL FIND HIS WAY BACK.

             
HOW?!
I demanded.

             
REMIND HIM WHO HE IS. Scrae said like that was obvious and easy. I sighed. Was it possible that all Spectrals were made cryptic?

             
“How long till help arrives?” I heard Marius ask. I have no idea how I could possibly hear him over the sounds of battle, but I did. Westley, who was closer to him, answered with a shrug.

             
“Only God knows, but it can’t be too much longer if they truly mean to come.”

***

Spectral Empire

Avana System

             
Captain Braeden Wingstar stared at the reports that his away team had brought back with a sense of growing helpless anger. Very little could be discovered from the Nem Beacon node because the very mountain it had been sitting on was now just a lot of rubble several thousand feet below where it had been. It was clear that someone had set a charge in the time after the
Aurora
brought the survivors back to the capital. The odd thing was that the crew who had been tasked to do preliminary recon had not seen the charge. The way Braeden saw it, they were either blind or they were part of the cover up.

             
Whoever had set the second charge had been careful because no clues had yet turned up.

             
It was at that moment that his internal com-link peeped.
What is it, Gigit?
He asked the intelligence running the link.

             
“You have an incoming joint message from 5
th
Class Cadet Sinclair.”

             
Braeden stilled for a moment in surprise before telling the com to lay it. Rylynn’s clear voice began with a decisive determination that bordered on disrespectful, but made him grin anyway. “Court martial me, or whatever you do to punish cadets who go against orders, later. We are going after Jason. Here are the coordinates on the edge of the N’avé System. We expect a fight and plead for assistance. Thanks, 5
th
Cadet Sinclair out.”

             
Raj, Braeden’s raven Spectral, laughed dryly as Braeden asked who the other recipient of the message was.

             
“Admiral L’Seral.” Gigit replied.

             
Contact Admiral L’Seral, if you would.
He instructed Gigit as he made his way to the bridge.

             
“Evens, I have a new heading for you.” He said to the
Hail Mary’s
helmsman.

             
“What is in the N’avé System, Captain?” Braeden’s second in command, Commander Race Quinn, asked.

             
“Our missing cadet and his rescuers.” Braeden replied.

             
“Pardon? His rescuers?” Race inquired.

             
Braeden grinned causing his second’s brows to rise. “The rest of his team, of course.”

             
“But they were just in Medical. Why would they go after the kid?”

             
Braeden raised his own brow. “That is one hell of a question to come from you, my friend. You would have done the same in a heartbeat.”

             
“I won’t deny it, but how do they know where to look when we haven’t found a clue?”

             
Braeden shrugged. “We’ll ask them after we lend them assistance.” He managed to evade the question with practiced ease. He had a guess how the cadets knew. But it was, after all, only a guess.

             
“Yes Captain?” Admiral L’Seral replied to his call

             
Did you receive Rylynn’s message.
He asked sitting in his chair.

             
“Of course. Scrappy little thing.” L’Seral said, a grin in her tone. “We will have to advise her in how to send a request for aid in the future, though.”

             
“True… You haven’t informed Admiral Knight about this yet, have you?” He asked. He had many reasons not to trust that man. And he knew that telling him about Rylynn’s message was the last thing they wanted to do.

             
L’Seral made a sound of disgust. “Honestly, Braeden, I wonder what you think of me some days. You honestly think I would tell him what we are up to? My dear colleague would insist on waiting forever or going himself. Both courses steal my opportunity to have some fun. That man thinks I’m old!” She protested. Braeden bit his tongue from saying anything. L’Seral was the oldest of the currently serving admirals.   No matter how true it might be, it was rude to say anything about a woman’s age. “Besides, I don’t want to miss seeing Rylynn’s latest exploits.” L’Seral continued.

             
I don’t want to miss it either. So how would you like to proceed once we arrive?
He asked.

             
“Depends on what we are against. We know about the Telmicks. We only know that they are the ses-Ky clan but not who they were working for.”

             
That is what I am worried about as well. How about this, The
Hail Mary
will enter the scene first. That way if it gets hot we have the advantage of surprise with the
Terrenza
and her SCF.

             
“Very well.” She said and Braeden knew she didn’t like that the
Hail Mary
was going to play bait, but she understood his reasoning. The
Terrenza,
like most weapons, was much more devastating when she was unexpected.

             
Braeden leaned back in his chair and began to pray that they would survive the darkness ahead of them. He also prayed that the cadets would still be alive by the time they arrived.

***

              Spectral Empire

Edge of the N’avé System

             
Jason had incapacitated most of the enemy before I could get through to him. I can tell you, it had been the most nerve wracking experience to have him round on me suddenly. In this winged serpent form he was easily big enough to make a snack out of me if he so chose. His lipless mouth had opened on a hiss. It had been wide enough for me to catch a glimpse of those two gleaming neon green fangs. I had swallowed before meeting his eyes. I blinked in an effort not to get lost in the spinning, yet not mixing, colors. Green, purple, and crimson swirled around the black slit of his pupil in a fascinating way…

             
CALL HIM. Luna whispered to me. Her urgent voice shook me from my daze and I blinked.

             
“Jason. Come on. Remember who you are. You are a Cadet in the Legion Fleet Academy and we,” I said indicating myself and the older boys, “are your friends.” I kept my gaze on those swirling irises and plowed on. I knew it was only a matter of time before more enemies came. Even so, I focused on reminding Jason of who he was. “You need to return to human so you can help me with math some more.” I added jokingly, but I was serious too. I needed all the help I could get. I quickly told him of our adventures since we had met three weeks ago. Not a long time, but besides sleeping and some classes, we had been with each other every minute. I paused when Luna warned me that more Telmicks were on their way. My voice turned pleading because nothing seemed to be happening. “We have to go, Jason. And you are too big right now to go sneaking about. Hell, you are too big to fit in the LFA!” So apparently I get nonsensical when I’m anxious.  

The serpent’s mouth snapped shut. Even more reliving to me was that his eyes were slowing their entrancing spin.
And to my surprise the serpent spoke. “Are you sssaying I’m fat in thisss form?” He asked. The tri-colored eyes stopped spinning and settled in their original pattern.

I got over my surprise quickly, (but really? Who would have
thought he could speak like this?)  and shrugged. “An LFA would burst at the seams and you wouldn’t be halfway in it.”

“That isss jussst mean.” Serpent Jason pouted. He closed his eyes for an uneasily long moment.

My skin started to itch and my temperature seemed to rise uncomfortably. HE IS RELEASING THE EXTRA ENERGY HE NEEDED FOR THIS FORM. Scrae observed answering my not yet formed question.

WHICH MEANS YOU ARE ABSORBING IT. Luna clarified.
Oh shit.
I thought. It seemed that I had already replaced what I had given to him. This wasn’t going to be good. A glance at Marius had him picking his way over Jason’s disintegrating tail. The large serpent was no longer black, green, red, and purple. It was a luminescent white instead. Trickles of it were fleeing from the mass. Marius was halfway to me when Jason released the excess all at once…

“Rylynn! Wake up! This is no time for sleeping.” I was told. Quick, successive taps on my cheek made me realize that my eyes were closed. I opened them to find that I was sitting on the metal floor with Marius supporting my shoulders. Westley and Jason were both looking down at me in concern.

“What the hell happened?” I asked.

“Jason went all nova-like and you hit the deck, out cold.” Marius explained in a joking voice, but I could see the concern in his eyes.

MARIUS DRAI
NED THE ENERGY BEFORE ITCOULD FRY YOU. Scrae informed me.

Thanks for putting th
at beautiful image in my head.
I thought caustically.

YOU’RE WELCOME. The mouse squeaked. But I could tell that he was relieved that I was okay.

“Well, I’m done with time out. Let’s get out of here.” I said struggling to my feet. Jason looked apologetic. I patted his shoulder as we slipped out of the room where he had been held. “I’m okay. How are you?” I asked in a hushed whisper.

“I feel amazing.” He said. “Though I would love to get off this ship.”

“You and me both.”  I replied.

“I think it’s the
same for all of us.” Westley added.

We ran as quickly as we dared. I kept thinking that we would have company any second… The hair on the back of my neck rose. I couldn’t shake the feeling that we were being watched. The sensation was so strong that I kept throwing glances behind us. But the hall was always empty of enemies. No one came at us from any side
corridors. I was getting more and more anxious. And I wasn’t the only one.

“Where is everybody?” Westley asked. “I would have thought we would have been fighting the entire way to the LFA.”

“I agree.” Marius said grimly. “This is too easy.”

The uneasy feeling
increased. “Did anyone see the Telmick leader when we left the room?” I asked.

“You mean the guy who
came in just before the Zar’daken?” Westley asked glancing back at me. I nodded and he frowned. “I don’t think so… I don’t remember. I was too busy trying to avoid getting shot and knocked over by a serpent Jason.”

Jason ducked his head. “Sorry.”

Westley grunted. “Too easy, lad.  It isn’t fun when it’s too easy.”

“Huh?” Jason asked looking
him.

Westley sighed. “You took out most of them. I don’t care if I had to avoid your feathered tail since you were dispatching the guys trying to kill us.”

Jason smiled slightly at the praise lurking in Westley’s tone.

“The question is, where
are
the rest of the guys trying to kill us?” Marius asked. We still couldn’t answer that when we reached the hatch where our LFA was waiting for us. We scampered inside, Westley and Marius taking the helm. The ship’s consoles were lighting up when I gripped Westley’s shoulder and pointed speechlessly out the window.

“Wha….oh.” His que
stion died as he followed my gaze.   I am pretty sure that everyone stopped breathing. Looming out of the blackness of space was the most ominous thing I had ever seen so far. It looked like an anemone. But instead of being about the size of my fist, it was easily the size of the moon that circled the nearby planet. Its spiky hull was made of a black material that seemed to absorb all light.

“A
Zar’daken warship,” Jason muttered breathlessly. “We are so screwed.” I really wished that people would stop saying stuff like that because the Universe loves playing with me and always wants to say ‘oh yeah? What about now?’ when something else happens that makes things worse.