Chapter 81: Another Return
Location: Dakarti Federation; Gendi System; VS Maxima
The call connects and Captain Roger’s broad figure appears as a hologram before Adrain. I stay standing to the side for now, as we want to surprise the poor Captain. “Greetings from the Dakarti Federation, VS Maxima. This is Captain Rogers of the Tilda. May I ask who I’m speaking to and what you intend on doing here? In case you are not aware, this is currently our frontline system defending against our anti-Mage neighbors.”
Adrian nods in acknowledgment. “Thank you, Captain, I’m aware of the situation. My name is Admiral Adrian Valterion.”
Captain Rogers stiffens and jumps up to salute. I stare at Adrian wide-eyed as well. He didn’t tell me that he’s an Admiral! I catch a small smirk on his face. Oh, that means war, he’s doing it on purpose!
“No need for that, Captain,” Adrain continues. “I’m not here to represent The Empire or it’s military. I’m here on a private family matter. Due to the nature of your neighbors, my mother, the Duchess decided to send me along to help my little cousin.”
He pulls me into the camera frame, and I give Captain Rogers a wave. “Hey there, Captain, nice to see you again. Sorry for lying to you earlier…”
Captain Rogers slumps down in his chair again and breathes heavily. His face lost all color. He shakes his head and sighs in resignation. “I’ll get my affairs in order…”
“What? NO! This isn’t about you. You’re doing great, I just wanted to say Hi again and return the money you gave me. We’re here to get something from the republic that I lost along the way.”
Captain Rogers just stares for a minute, then he barks a loud laugh. “Hah, and I thought you were going to arrest me for what I did. Oh my god. That just took ten years of my life expectancy… You can keep the money though. It wasn’t that much. Being in your good graces is worth more, not that I know your actual position in the family.”
That has me laughing as well. “Yeah, sorry about that. I panicked a bit back then and wasn’t sure if I could trust you guys. It was my first mission and then it went wrong like this…”
“All good, it was good training for my crew… And now we can laugh about it, I guess? If you need any assistance though, just give me a call. The Tilda is ready.”
I nod and Adrian starts speaking again. “That won’t be necessary but thank you. A little warning though, our actions might put your neighbors on high alert, so maybe strengthen your borders a bit. We’re about to poke a hornet’s nest…”
The Captain nods. “I’ll send it up the ranks. Thanks for the warning. Good Luck, Rogers out!”
We say goodbye to him as well and when the projection cuts off, I turn to my brother. “Admiral, huh?”
He flashes a broad and innocent grin. “I thought you knew…?”
“Oh no, that won’t get you off the hook, prepare for my revenge. It’ll come when you least expect it.”
“Challenge accepted,” he smirks. “So just what did you and the Captain do that he was so afraid?”
I shrug. “Trade secret.”
He groans. “Fine, don’t tell me…” He turns to the bridge crew. “Are you all ready? We’re about to jump right into the capital system of an anti-Mage nation.”
Everyone around us nods in determination and there are even a few ‘ayes’ thrown across the room.
“Good, then let’s get this show on the road. Commander Stevens, you’re our main defense line. Hook up with the battery, once we arrive, I want a shield all around the academy station. It’s a big one, so it might be straining. Call in your department for help if necessary. Commander Relina, I don’t plan on any offensive actions today, so your main job is to shield the Maxima in case they break through Commander Stevens’ shields. Sara and I will be joining the infiltration team. Commander Schmidt, you’ll be leading that team, we’re in your capable hands. Captain Suri will have command of the ship, as always.”
Clara helpfully put labels above the heads of each person Adrian mentioned. While I met a lot of people during the last two weeks, I met far from everyone. Commander Stevens is a tall black man with short dark hair sitting to my left on what I guess is the defensive console. His normally offensive counterpart, Commander Relina is a short black-haired woman with Asian features and a big grin on her face. I’ve talked to her on a few occasions, and she is a very cheerful person. Captain Suri stands to the other side of Adrian and moves to take over the command chair from my brother. She’s a tall woman and already looks to be in her forties. Her hair is colored completely white, which makes her blue eyes even more piercing. Her posture screams authority and I guess, she has quite a lot of experience if she got any longevity treatments. Lastly, there is Commander Schmidt. He has a striking resemblance to Magnus Schmidt of the Earth war recordings. He must be from the Armortec line. I guess we’re in good hands for the infiltration.
Adrian nudges me. “It’s time to suit up. Kira, err Lieutenant Lopes will do the jump.”
I nod, and we follow Commander Schmidt out of the bridge. He turns around and asks with a surprisingly high-pitched voice. “I’m guessing you haven’t worn an operator suit yet?”
I shake my head. “No, I haven’t even heard about it.”
That earns me a laugh. “Alright, hang on, it’s best if I show you directly.”
We follow him down a few decks until we enter another room. It’s quite spacey and eight people are already inside and talking with each other. They stop and salute when Schmidt enters the room. “Alright everyone, suit up!” They immediately spring into action and open different lockers at the side of the room. Schmidt beckons me to follow him while Adrian moves to a locker as well.
Schmidt opens the locker next to him and looks me up and down. “No, too small,” he mumbles and opens the next one. “Perfect. Okay, so this is an operator suit. It’s pretty similar to your normal shipsuit, just way more protected.”
“Like a spacewalker suit?” I ask.
“Exactly, just not bulky at all. It also comes with integrated Magitech shielding, as not everyone is an A&D Mage.” He raises an eyebrow in question, and I shake my head.
“No, just Space and Utility. But I’ve got this.” I show him my shield watch.
“Holy crap, that’s Ancient! Your suit will be way better though, as it offers full body shielding.” He points to a few cabins at the back of the room. “You can change in there if you want.”
I look around and everyone is in a various state of undress. “Err, yeah, I’ll do that.” No chance in hell that I strip down before all those people, especially if one of them is my brother. Commander Schmidt laughs and hands me the suit. I thank him and enter the cabin. Two minutes later, I’m finished. The suit even comes with a retracting helmet which I keep in its retracted state for now. I look in the mirror and sigh. Whoever designed this thing didn’t think of women… It’s completely skin-tight and shows every. Single. Curve. Good thing I looked after myself over the years. I let out a dark chuckle. This is going to turn a few heads.
I step outside and there are a few sharp intakes of breath and a few curses of ‘holy shit!’
“Commander, you’re bad with sizes!” One of the women calls out. I look at her. That’s just unfair. While her suit is still tight, it’s not even close to mine. She offers me an apologetic look and I can only shrug and repeat my inner mantra. At least I look good. Adrian averts his gaze and glares daggers at Schmidt.
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“Sorry,” the Commander apologizes to me, and I accept it.
“It’s okay, I’m not changing again… We better get going.”
I turn around and glare at one of the men. “Don’t stare at my ass!”
He lifts his hands in apology. “Sorry madam.”
Adrian claps his hands. “Alright, it’s showtime. Kir… Lieutenant Lopes is about to jump. You all know the plan. We start at the top and move downward until we find the target, then I or Sara will take us back to the Maxima. If we have to split up, stay close to one of us, we’re your ticket out. Clara and Reggie will infiltrate the computers and hopefully find the location of the target. In this case, we might teleport again, depending on the distance. Questions?”
There are none and Adrian nods. Seconds later, we jump.
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Location: Estriduros Republic; Estriduros System; Mage Academy Station
We reappear very close to the giant, squared station. Well next to the Maxima it doesn’t look that big, but it’s a bad comparison. Clara shows me an external view on my interface. I can see a gigantic shield bubble enveloping everything around us, including the station. There are two small Destroyers close to the station, but another two bubbles enclose them quickly, making them unable to move. Weapons start flashing, but those shield bubbles hold strong for now.
We gather around Adrian, and he flexes his magic. The spell surrounds us, and we jump. Then we are on the top level of Mage Academy Station!
We appear in the middle of a currently empty classroom. The soldiers take up their positions around me and Adrian. Commander Schmidt is upfront. “Clara, do your thing.”
“Already on it, those code samples you’ve got from Maja are a big help… There, I’m in. She’s currently inside her cabin on level 19. The residential levels are shielded with anti-Space magic emitters to prevent what we’re just doing, so we can’t jump right to her. I’ve got some coordinates on level 21, that’s the closest I can get you. I’m sending the same to Reggie, be ready to teleport us as soon as Adrian gives the go-ahead.”
“What do you mean with shielded? Like the prison? But Mom jumped there anyway and I’m an Archmage too!”
“You are, but you are new. Jumping into anti-magic zones requires a lot of practice besides being an Archmage. We can’t risk messing up right now.”
“You’re right, sorry. Level 21 it is then.”
Adrian looks at me. “Clara said you are ready to jump?” I nod. “Do it,” he confirms.
I close my eyes, as it still makes everything easier. Clara helps a lot with the Teleportation spell, and I cover every one of us. Then I trigger it and we vanish. A second later, we are inside a park on level 21, and Schmidt begins to lead us toward one of the staircases that Clara marks on my projected map. There is still no one around, which is weird. I whisper to Clara. “Why is no one here?”
“It’s currently nighttime on the station.”
Ahh, that makes sense…
We meet our first persons inside the staircase. It’s two security guards with their weapons at the ready. Not that it buys them anything, as Schmidt casts a spell and they drop like boulders, unconscious. Two others from our squad strip them of weapons and bind their hands and feet together. Then we continue our descent. We pass level 20 while dispatching another two guards. This time they immediately started shooting, so our squad stopped holding back and took them down quickly. I felt a bit uncomfortable at first, but then I remembered the cruel collars and some sneering faces of the academy personnel. Yeah, they chose that themselves.
When we enter floor 19, it’s complete chaos. People run around wildly and in every direction. A siren blares and red lights blink. It sounds like an evacuation. I hope Miss Baker is still there… My squad starts downing people with ruthless efficiency. Everyone with a weapon is dispatched by one of the soldiers with Magitech guns. The civilians and Mages are stunned by Commander Schmidt and Adrian with various spells. We don’t care about binding their hands anymore, as all those people are either support staff or instructors and the rest is dead.
Commander Schmidt reaches Miss Baker's door and either Clara or Reggie opens it immediately. Luckily, she is still there. She is currently rushing to pack some things into a bag and doesn’t immediately notice that her door has opened. When she does notice and looks up, she gasps. That’s when Adrian’s stun spell hits her square in the face, and she drops. “I so needed to do that!” He exclaims with a chuckle.
“Okay, let’s get out of here, we have what we need,” Commander Schmidt says.
“Wait,” I call out. “We have to remove her collar. It can be used to restrict movement. If it’s activated, we can’t move her out of here.”
“Do it but be quick. More guards will arrive soon.”
I kneel next to Miss Baker’s unconscious form and put my hands on the collar at both sides of her head. I’ve forgotten to take the modified UC-cable with me, but Clara told me we can simply rip the collar apart with Telekinesis if we just overwhelm it with power. Luckily, I now have the power to spare. I start flooding the collar with magic while focusing on the Telekinesis spell.
“That’s enough,” Clara says, and I trigger the spell. All the magic reacts, and I move my hands apart, while still holding onto the collar. With a sound of ripping metal, it comes apart and I hold both halves of the collar.
Immediately two men grab hold of Miss Baker, and Schmidt starts moving out of the room. “Alright, let’s go. We have to move further down, as the upper levels are swarmed with guards. We have to reach level six to exit the shielded areas. Don’t hold back, we’ve two weeks of relaxation awaiting us.”
Our squad moves out, and the guys holding Miss Baker and I are in the middle. A few minutes later, we reach another staircase and make our way down. So far so good.
Two levels later, our luck runs out. “Contact!” Calls out the woman at our back and before she finishes speaking, laser bolts start hitting us. Our suits’ shielding activates and holds them back. Then the squad returns fire and Adrian casts a one-way shield to block off further laser bolts from the station guard.
Our return fire is ineffective but at least Adrain’s shield holds them back. The guards must be shielded as well or something. The woman at the back notices as well. “Commander, they are shielded! Permission to switch to shieldpiercers?”
“Granted,” Schmidt replies.
The woman nods and turns a dial at the weapon. Suddenly, I feel a weird form of magic emanating from the rifle, and the woman aims and takes a shot at one of our pursuers. The shot now is deep red and reminds me of the magical guns of the Stargazer. A second later, it hits one of the guards in the thigh, and the shielding he has shatters. Blood splatters the people around him and he falls with a cry and the others stop to give him first aid.
Satisfied, the woman lowers the weapon, and we start rushing down the stairs again. Adrian’s Shield spell follows closely behind us, but the guards stay back for now. This continues for another few levels until suddenly the doors above and below us open and two squads of guards spill into the stairway. We stop, and our small infiltration squad splits in the middle to cover both our front and back.
The two guys holding Miss Baker look me up and down and must see something that satisfies them because suddenly, I’m holding her in my arms and the two guys join our rear guard. I almost drop her in surprise, then I cast a telekinetic field under her and lay her down on it. She’s now floating beside me, but I still have to hold her so that she doesn't roll down the sides. I haven’t tried any other shapes than flat planes for my fields and this is not the time to try out new things!
“Surrender, you are surrounded!” A male voice calls out.
Commander Schmidt immediately replies. “Let us pass. We’ll be leaving. One way or the other.”
There is a moment of silence, then laser bolts are flying. They hit Adrian’s shield in the back which starts glowing brighter and brighter with each consecutive hit. It’s not going to hold that much longer!
When I turn to the front, the same happens there, but that shield is still holding strong. I guess it’s from Commander Schmidt, who I guess is at least a Master A&D Mage. “So be it then,” Schmidt says and raises his hand. He makes a fist, and my eyes almost pop out of my head. All the weapons of the guards in front of us get crushed in their hands! Then Schmidt moves his fist to the left and the guards who are still staring at their destroyed weapons are thrown against the wall where they slide down slowly. They don’t get back up.
Schmidt pants a little and signals us to continue down the stairs. We all follow them, and I take a quick glance at the guards, Schmidt has just thrown against the wall so casually. Most of them look worse for the wear, but I see a few of them still breathing. We don’t care about them anymore though, as Adrian’s shield is about to be overloaded. We have to reach the lower levels to teleport away. “Pick up the pace,” Adrian shouts. “My shield’s going to blow any moment now!”
Whatever that means… Still, everyone in the back stops firing and turns around to rush down the stairs alongside me. I struggle a bit with Miss Baker and my Telekinesis spell which the two guys holding her earlier seem to notice. They drop their weapons which are secured with a sling around their torso and grab Miss Baker again. I nod at them in thanks and let the spell dissipate.
I barely made two steps further down the stairs when there is a cracking sound accompanied by a bright flash of light. Then there are shouts of pain behind us and I glance over my shoulder. It looks like our pursuers were hit by something and got thrown against the wall as well. Did the Shield spell explode outward when it was overloaded? There is a lot of blood.
I guess I have to ask Adrian later. He steps up right beside me and pants. “You’ll have to do the jump. I’m quite spent after blocking so many shots, and I still have to jump with the Maxima. The overload at the end didn’t help either. But at least it took care of everyone following us.”
Ah, no need to ask anymore… I was right. “Yeah, I can do it. I didn’t use much of my magic.”
He nods in relief. “Alright, then let’s finish this!”
Another couple minutes and one small guard encounter, which we quickly dealt with, later, we arrive at level 06. Clara immediately sets the coordinates for the Maxima, and I focus on the spell. With Clara’s assistance, it takes less than five seconds until I can signal Commander Schmidt my readiness. He nods in acknowledgment, and I trigger the spell. With a purple flash, we all disappear from the Mage Academy Station.