The ship appeared in empty space and, to everyone’s surprise, not a single alarm went off. The only sounds were of the navigational system plotting their location and the sound of Duke’s body hitting the floor.
“I told everyone to strap in, dammit!” Mira announced without looking back to see what happened, still focused on determining their location and if there was any danger to the ship.
Aurelia scrambled out of her chair and to Duke’s side. She rolled him onto his back and that is when she saw all the blood coming from his eyes, ears, and nose. She put his head in her lap, knowing that she had no healing magic and Duke had recovered from worse.
Duke was still conscious but unable to react. His big flashing notification was all he could focus on through the shattering pain in his head.
*** Attention! You have pushed your TELEPORTATION Ability beyond its limits by bringing such a large mass with you across a strong dimensional barrier. The strain has caused both of your cerebral arteries to burst. Your REGENERATION will repair the damage shortly. By pushing your Ability this far beyond its limits and surviving, you have gained 20 levels in the Ability to Grandmaster 69. You have similarly increased your REGENERATION to Adept 159 and your OVERCHANNEL to Adept 95. ***
The pain quickly subsided, and Duke regained his ability to act. His eyes fluttered open and he became aware of where he was and what position he was in.
“Did we make it?”
Mira called back from the command chair, “You bet your ass we made it! We’re about two light days from the Sanction system and Turin station.”
“Then we should probably get out of this area considering all the Syndicate activity around here,” Lya said.
“How far is it to Altis Marin Six anyway?” Duke leveraged himself back to standing, leaning back down to help Aurelia up and into a hug. “Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Always,” she whispered back.
Duke picked up a hint of something he couldn’t identify in how she spoke. He decided to pursue it later as they were likely still in danger. He focused back on the navigation console just in time to see Mira bring up the data he was about to look for.
“It’s about nine thousand light years away. It will take us about a week to get there.”
Gro’nok frowned, “Is there any way we can make the trip faster? We are already heavily delayed in reaching our friend and I fear he will not be able to hold out much longer.”
Mira looked at Duke and stared with a brief start. “Duke, you should probably go wash up.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Just go. You’ll see.”
Duke reluctantly left the bridge and headed to the nearest washroom. When he saw himself in the mirror, he could see the blood all over him and nodded. One quick CLEANSE later, he was headed back to the bridge. He entered to hear a conversation about engine modifications.
“We will have to modify the engines from what we did to get back here. Maybe we can modify them to eke out a bit more speed, but it is likely to damage them in the long-term.”
“But the ship’s self-repair function should take care of that, right?”
Mira looked pointedly at Duke with a serious frown on her face, “Let me speak with my engineer and see what can be done.” The sneer on the word “engineer” was obvious to all.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
Duke shrugged and stepped off the bridge to join Mira in a meeting room. She whirled on him, “What the hell was that about self-repair function of the ship?”
“I had to tell them something. Their mechs were fully restored. What other explanation could I give them without telling them about my Abilities?”
“Hiding your Abilities is growing less and less practical as time goes by. How well did you hide them on Teldin?”
“Um…not at all really.”
“So how long until someone gets there and starts asking around? It’s not like hunters aren’t still flocking there. That’s your last known location. Or it was until the Syndicate got involved. They probably have everything by now.”
“Fuck.”
“Yeah. So, stop telling people my ship can do things it can’t and let’s get these guys to their friend as fast as possible. You can handle that, right?”
“I can. My Mana has refilled. I’ll put us one light day out from the planet, and you can take us in like we did at Sanction.”
“That’s the plan. Now go and fess up.”
Duke hung his head and sulked for a few seconds before lifting his head and squaring his shoulders on his way back to the bridge. He was met with a trio of anxious orc gazes.
“OK, here’s the deal. I’ve been trying to hide what I can do because there is a price on my head, and I didn’t want to be found just yet. Now that the Syndicate is involved in this mess, shit is going to be found out sooner or later anyway.”
“What are you saying, Duke?”
Mira’s stare could have bored holes in Duke’s head. He continued, “The ship doesn’t have a self-repair function. That was all my Ability.” He held up a hand to forestall the questions. “Let me finish and we will talk more. I also didn’t modify the engines to get us back here, that was another Ability of mine. It was pushed beyond its limits to do it, but we made it. Similarly, I can get us to your destination faster than any stardrive could. We’ll be arriving in orbit in a matter of hours.”
“Hours? And what was all that about you doing all this? This makes no sense, human.”
“It’s a bit of a long story, but the cliff notes version is that I pissed off some very powerful individuals who then put a bounty contract on my head. It’s a weird bounty in my mind but I guess there are some rules they had to play by. The contract can’t be fulfilled by anyone over Tier Four. And-“
Lya cut in, “There ain’t no one in Tier Four that can handle the Duke.”
Mira, Aurelia, and Lya burst out laughing while the trio of orcs stared at them incredulously.
“So, now you run and hide?” Gro’nok’s tone dropped from confused to derisive.
“Not exactly. I killed dozens of hunters and assassins back home before deciding to venture out into the wider cosmos. I really didn’t want to cause too much trouble for my ride, but it seems trouble was going to find us regardless. With a player like the Syndicate stepping onto the field, not that I really know the extent of their reach, it’s time to stop pussyfooting around and start walking tall. They want to come after me, I’ll just keep killing them all.”
“Now, you sound like an orc. There’s hope for you yet.”
*** Your Diplomacy Skill has increased to Practiced 12 ***
Well, that’s amusing. Guess the Skill helped out a bit there. Time to get us going.
“Mira, you ready for us to make the jump?”
“Yeah, all set. Take us whenever-“
Duke TELEPORTED them to their target. He smiled as she finished her sentence, fading off.
“you’re ready.”
“All done. Go ahead and set your course for the final destination. I have to speak with Gro’nok on how we are going to rescue their friend.”
Duke pulled the trio of orcs to the side and got the conversation going, “A few questions to get us started. Do you know where your friend is located on the planet? Do you know what the situation is? And do you have a way to contact them?”
Gro’nok answered with a scowl, “Our friend is located in planetary sector 26-D and is nearly completely surrounded by now. His unit is a triad of Steel Tusks holding a fortification with a battalion of infantry. They have been under siege since before we left on this journey and their time is running out. When we get to the planet, I should be able to establish communications.”
“OK, that’s a good run-down. Do you care if any of the attackers survive?”
“Let their blood run in rivers!” The rest of the orcs joined him in the sentiment with raised fists and roars to the heavens.
Duke’s grin turned feral as he unconsciously reacted to the orc’s bloodlust, “I have an idea on how to make an entrance that will make one hell of an impact. How do your communications work anyway?”
“It is a shared set of communications crystals that are built into every Iron Tusk mech. They only have range across a single star system. For anything farther than that, you need a ship’s system.”
“So, you could possibly reach them from this ship, now?”
“Not while we are in Exospace. That is, unless you have some Ability that can do that too.”
Mira called back from the Captain’s chair, “We’ll be in the system in twenty minutes. Make your preparations.”
Duke looked at the orcs. They looked back at him, bloodlust brimming in their gazes. Gro’nok put his hand on Duke’s shoulder, “Join us in the mech bay. You can tell us your ideas while we prepare for a hot drop. Steel Tusks, prepare your mechs!”
They thundered out of the bridge with Duke in hot pursuit. It was time to get to fighting!