The Legend Returns
Morwen coughed out acrid smoke, trying to fill her lungs with air. A thick haze hung in the bridge despite the large circular hole the hatchling ship hard burned into the ceiling. Burnt polymers and charged ozone stung at her lungs. Her eyes watered. But she was alive.
Somehow, against all the odds, she’d lived. Her crew were alive. But at what cost? Gingerly, she pressed herself up from the command chair and surveyed the bridge of the Cadaver Crasher. The old battleship had crashed into the side of a mountain, its systems collapsing under damage sustained in their retreating battle.
“Report!” she choked out.
Sirsir and Arjun both gave her thumbs up. Good. No permanent injuries. That was a start. She gestured for Sirsir to take the offensive controls. “Get me a sitrep on the tactical situation outside.”
The over-muscled NCO slid into the chair, gripping the gold controls and taping a few buttons. Magic pulsed down his arms into the deck. A series of large cracks broke up the smooth surface of the main screen, bands of primary and secondary colors denoted catastrophic damage. The magi-holo flickered before a dream like display of the surrounding terrain pulled up. The air space was clear.
“Looks like the scaley’s pulled out after they stole the book.”
Morwen studied the airspace and the status of the Crasher. She’d still fly, but whether she could fight was an entirely different question. They might need to send a recovery team out just to extract it from the surface. As the red dots continued to exit the combat airspace, Morwen felt as much as she saw the fold in the space above them. Like a singularity had spawned within reality, curving and breaking every law of physics before suddenly vomiting a massive vessel above them. Her eyes widened as the realization dawned on her.
“Theferis. The first legendary spell ship.”
It was immense, like a massive ship sized spell staff. But something was off. It was dripping black ooze like they had extracted it from a planet sized tar pit. She watched as the massive ship hurled a series of void bolts that enveloped the remaining Sauridian vessels. Blossoms of fire and debris bloomed in the late afternoon sky, followed shortly after by deep rumbling booms and shockwaves that shook the Crasher’s frame.
“No idea what the mess is, but I’ve never been more glad to see someone blast a bunch of scaley ships to dust,” Sirsir said.
Morwen had to agree. While losing Rozien had felt like giving away her best hand, she couldn’t have known it would lead to her very goal appearing within reach. Not just that, but vaporizing her enemies. Smaller secondary batteries lining the long cylindrical rod fired smaller void bolts into the patches of ground troops harassing the marines. That’s when she knew for certain.
“It’s them. Somehow Amara found the spell ship. She found Theferis.”
The comm system crackled. Sirsir turned and shot Morwen a grin. “Ma’am, we’re being hailed. By Amara.”
The magi-com crackled, on the verge of blowing its fuse. Then it projected a hazy pink and lavender projection of the Theferis’ bridge and its crew. Amara stood front and center, Rozien clutched in both arms tightly. To her side stood Yasiin, and an unknown man in brown leather sporting a hat. He looked capable enough, but definitely out of his element. Last but definitely not least, she saw Akamori seated in the command chair. His long red hair framing his angular face again.
“Lieutenant!” Sala said from his crushed console.
“Well I’ll be.” Sirsir said, a happy grin spreading.
Morwen leaned forward, almost unwilling to accept the truth her eyes were sharing with her mind. “Lt. It’s good to have you back. We were told you didn’t survive your personal sojourn.”
Akamori shrugged impishly. “To be honest, sir, I’m not entirely sure I did either. But it looks like I get a second chance, so to speak. Unfinished business and all that.”
“Indeed. Then let’s be about it then.” Morwen said, rising from her chair.
“I’m picking up a small fleet of Sauridius ships at the system’s edge. Would you like to join us, Captain?”
“I would.”
An instant later Morwen felt the telltale frigid nausea of teleportation overcome her. An instant of blindness followed and when the effect wore off, she found herself on the bridge of the legendary spell ship Theferis. Cool chrome and gold surfaces and polished white gold accents hinted at the ship’s prestige and power. This was not the grungy steel bruiser skin of the Crasher. Theferis felt more like attending weaver college, with less wood.
“Captain?” Akamori’s voice said, cutting into her silent reverie.
Morwen blinked, shook her head gently and gave Akamori her business face.
“The bridge is yours, captain.” Akamori said. “I stand relieved.”
Morwen nodded, taking the command chair and gripping the controls. Before she could begin the linking process, Rozien’s voice cut in.
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“That’s unnecessary. This ship’s bridge is one massive spell control matrix. Just being here links you to the ship. You don’t need to grip controls anymore than you need to voice spells. Simply channel the magic, and the ship manifests it.”
Morwen blinked. “Can more than one crew channel magic?”
“As many as you have mages capable of filling the bridge?” Rozien said, not understanding the thrust of Morwen’s question. Her mind reeled at the impact of his response. Her ability to respond to threats had multiplied exponentially. Something caught her eye, and she turned to catch a thin trail of black hoop leaking from the wall.
“Yeah. It’s uh…I’ll brief you later. For now, best not to touch or ingest the stuff.”
Morwen’s lip curled. That was all she needed. “Noted.” She returned her attention to the system magi-holo. Her eyes noted the position and makeup of the Sauridius fleet. In the Crasher, it would have been a suicide run. Outgunned and outmatched. On this ship? She could do it.
“Prepare for combat.” She ordered as the ship surged for orbit. Atmospheric sheer and friction burned away more of the goo. Revealing the shiny and pristine hill beneath, untarnished by the black blood. As her mind merged with the vessel, her senses expanded outward. Every sensor became her eyes and ears, every hull plate became the flesh of her body, and every gun battery became her hands with which to strike.
At the edge of the Anazi system, a small flotilla of Sauridius ships held position. Several of the self same missile cruisers that beat the Crasher out of Anazi’s skies flanked by a larger battleship. Unlike the sleek vessels produced by the Artificers Guild, these ships were aggressive, crude and exuded danger. Blighting the sector of space they held position in. Morwen willed the ship forward, and the Theferis’s massive spell drive rumbled to life, inexorably pushing itself free of Anazi Prime’s atmosphere completely.
Now freely in the void of space, much of what remained of the black blood crystalized along its hull. Morwen cast a simple flame spell along the hull, incinerating the last of the black blood. For now, at least. She’d have to get that story from Akamori about its origins. She suspected it wasn’t a good one.
Without being ordered to, the others took up positions to flank her on the bridge. Consoles appeared from the ground to meet their waiting hands. As their consciousness linked with the ship, it created a small chorus of voices in the back of her mind. Linked by the ship’s magic, they all realized they could all react as one one mind, though operate independently. A system designed to unify a crew for creating an aegis of mages.
Whomever had created this vessel was as much an artist as a crafter. Her mother would no doubt love to sink her claws into the ship. But there would be no such thing. This was her ship. And she was going to use it to win the war. May the gods have mercy on any poor fool who gets in her way.
Like the collection of poor fools roughly 5 light hours away at the edge of the system. She could have formed a void gate and jumped behind the fleet. But she wanted them to see her approach. Let them know fear, the way they’ve so often beaten the concept into her people.
Morwen wondered how far before the ships were in firing range, and a responding thought from Akamori showed the enemy fleet was well within the main batteries limits. She caught herself grinning. At once, everyone on the crew who possessed void magic fed their own portions into the spell drive. The ship then took on that magic, multiplying it exponentially much in the same manner Akamori’s former spell armor used to. The lavender and black magic roiled and spun within the keel length barrel of the ship.
Then two things happened. The ship cast a simple void gate spell just large enough for the maw of the spell cannon and positioned the gate a few meters ahead of the muzzle. Five and a half light hours away, a void gate opened perpendicular to the Sauridius fleet at the same time. Then the main cannon fired. The ship heaved violently as it dumped all that power into the blast, which then poured into the void gate like a raging flood that found a drain. In the distance, Morwen saw her attack rake across the entire fleet. They’d caught them all flat-footed.
Morwen zoomed in to inspect the damage she’d inflicted. Her attack had punched through several wards on the smaller ships, but they were not defenseless or weak. Still, she’d sent her message. I’m coming for you, and there’s nothing you can do to stop me. She poured a bit more magic into the void gate spell, willing it wider, and took Theferis through.
When the bulk of the legendary spell ship finished spilling free of its exit, it dwarfed the entire Sauridius flotilla with comic ease. She heard Sirsir sniffle to her right and behind her. She turned back to him with concern but immediately realized when she saw how amused he looked.
“It’s just so gods damned beautiful. Puttin’ those scaley bastards on the back talon. Never thought I’d see the day.”
Sala nodded to Morwen’s left at his own station. “We’ve faced lifetimes of death and carnage in their hands. Now we can finally end it.”
The Sauridius ships burst into motion now. Clearly, the shock of their situational reversal settled in and they scrambled to salvage it. Return fire burst from all vessels as they scattered to create distance from each other and put themselves on diverging fire solutions. No more freebies, Morwen thought. That was fine.
Morwen backed Theferis off and took the situation in full. The smaller missile ships were forming a loose front wall. Two cruisers flanked the battleship, and they all focused fire on a singular point, seeking to punch through the legendary spell ships’ protective wards. Sala and Yasiin were more than up to the task for now, both grunting against the return fire, not as insignificant as Morwen wanted to think.
Hordes of missiles streamed free of the smaller ships, and the defensive batteries of Theferis went to work. Small beams of void and condensed light magic lanced out. They erased as fast missile tracks as they began. Snuffed out as beams of raw, concentrated magic swept through fuselages and detonated explosive packages with ease.
Morwen sensed Akamori’s unease, his need to dive into the fray personally. He could have used Indra, but it was still on the Crasher. No, wait, there might actually be a better solution. There it was, a Hoplite class, Spell Mech. He’d sensed it at the same time she had. Down on the hanger deck. He was already leaving the bridge before she could even offer the suggestion. His combat awareness and initiative had grown considerably since the day she’d conscripted him to fight.
The ship buffeted and her focus returned to the fight in time to see several large flame and rock elementals helping strike the wards. The enemy had changed tacks, going from brute force to overwhelming fire. She prayed Akamori got to the mech in time and could actually make use of it. They were going to need him.
“Not sure how much more of this we can take.” Sala said through grit teeth.
“Hang in there, private. The Lieutenant will on site to assist shortly.”
Yasiin and Sala both nodded grimly, remaining focused on keeping up the defensive wards for as long as they had strength.