Rebel Princess(44)

A great swirling mass of . . . something had erupted between the  battlegroup and the rebel ships. Fascinated, Kass watched as it  gradually coalesced into a form remarkably like a monster out of a  nightmare. Kass studied the hologlobe's grid lines. Fizzet! Whatever it  was, it was twice the size of Astarte and growing rapidly. A monstrous  head-part dragon, part gargoyle-massive teeth, a long, lashing tail.  Flashes of strange colors randomly illuminated the whole. Illusion or  black magic? At the moment Kass didn't care. It was magnificent.

The Fleet ships slowed abruptly. Their icons wavered, as if encountering  a magnetic storm. Merveille! Not just an illusion. No wonder it had  taken Jagan a while to conjure this bit of the black arts. But how long  could he hold it? This was so far beyond the illusion of a huntership . .  . and at a greater distance.

No idea, Jagan spoke into her mind. Never done this before. Tell Rigel to get a move on!

Kass glanced at the scowl on the face of the chief engineer and decided there was no need to pass on that bit of advice.

"Your sorcerer's earned his keep," Tal said. "That's one hell of an illusion."

"You'd better tell Tegge to keep up, because it just might nip her in  the rear," Kass returned blandly. "That's black magic, Captain, not an  illusion."

Kass would swear the bridge temperature dropped, as a cold wind of fear  blew through. Not that she blamed the crew. Whatever that creature was  out there, it was worthy of anyone's abject terror.

No beacon marked Choya gate, but they were close enough Kass could see  the faint spacial distortion on her holo. Twenty minutes out . . .  fifteen. They just might make it.

Tell Rigel . . . losing . . . blockade. Kass could feel Jagan's exhaustion. Not good.

"Captain, Jagan reports their powers drained," Kass announced, voice  steady though anguish gripped her heart. Destruction loomed. We're still  twelve minutes out." The monster cloud suddenly dissolved, wisps  flicking across the hologlobe, dissolving, disappearing . . .

With a pause only long enough to take in the change in situation, the  five fleet ships accelerated, eating up the distance between them. No  doubt about it, Fleet had added a few new wrinkles to their sub-light  engines.         

     



 

Kass felt Jagan's exhaustion . . . and his chagrin. Too bad his monster  hadn't gotten close enough to eat a ship or two. Could it? She had no  idea. She hadn't seen Jagan dabble in black magic since he was a  heedless teen, showing off for the Princess Royal. And he'd never  conjured anything bad. Well . . . there'd been that very hairy spider  when he knew she absolutely hated spiders. And then there was the Medusa  moment . . .

Not that any of it mattered now. Unless a miracle appeared, the rebellion was about to come to an abrupt end.

Kass fixed her gaze on the hologlobe, observing the inevitable. Her mind  seemed to detach itself, growing cold and hard. No longer a gladiator,  she had become a mere spectator. Helpless, ridiculously helpless.

Scorpio closed the gap to ten marks. Readying for an attack on Astarte,  or closing ranks for better defense? At eight minutes out, the five  Fleet ships surged forward, spreading out in a giant pincers movement,  encircling the two rebel hunterships.

Surrounded. After all their efforts . . . they were surrounded, five  ships to two. If, that is, Scorpio didn't belong to the enemy. No! This  couldn't be the end. There had to be a way.

"Battle stations," Tal ordered evenly, with no sign of the desperation they all felt, "K'kadi, disappear Scorpio."

Scorpio winked out. "Scorpio, into Choya now!" Tal ordered. "No argument, do it!"

Ha! Kass wondered what Fleet made of Scorpio's disappearance. And she  had to admit to surprise of her own when Tegge reluctantly acknowledged  her orders with, "Heading for Choya, Captain. Good luck." Would wonders  never cease? Tegge just might be an ally, after all. Not that it really  mattered, as in following orders, Scorpio was leaving Astarte to fight  alone.

"All Fleet weapons going hot," Dorn reported, swiftly followed by, "Incoming."

"Shields up."

"They're launching Tau-20s."

K'kadi steadied Kass as cannon fire hit them from every direction,  sending her hard against her harness, taking her breath away. Astarte  shuddered, settled, even as alarms sounded, warning lights flashed, and  the bridge crew struggled to return to upright. Kass didn't need to hear  shield strength was down to twenty percent to know they couldn't  withstand a second salvo.

She couldn't ask more of K'kadi or Jagan, of that she was certain, but  something had to be done. Now. She was their last chance for a miracle .  . . but was it possible?

K'kadi was already doing the impossible, sheltering Scorpio as it made  its way through the ring of Fleet ships. Jagan was spent, having given  the monster his all. So L'ira Faelle Maedan Orlondami, designated heir  to the ParaPrime, was next. Her turn.

But how? She no longer saw the action via the hologlobe, but as if she  were part of the great void outside, her vision stretching from the  outermost Fleet ship to Choya gate. She pictured Astarte going up and  over the enemy, straight to Choya like a bird flying high in Blue Moon's  sky. She shut her eyes, gathered every ounce of power she possessed . .  .

"Incoming, all directions."

Kass heard the warning dimly. Steepling her hands before her face, her spirit soared. She gave her powers free rein.

The result was like a clap of thunder, hitting her hard, rolling over  her like a battlecruiser over a single Tau-20. Who was Kass Kiolani to  play with the universe?

At Comm, Zee-Zee screamed, Tal fell forward, Dorn yelled, "Fyd!" More  screams, shouts. Fear. Were they going down? No time, no time to find  out. Hang on, hang on. Do it. Head swirling, Kass fell into the void.

Ka-ass! Tal fought the crushing wave of blackness that stabbed through him as Kass slumped, unconscious, against her harness.

"Captain." The awe in Dorn's voice snapped Tal back to himself, but even  with his gaze fixed on the shimmering portal straight in front of them,  he couldn't quite take it in. A jumpgate? Choya?

Choya. Omni be praised, she'd done it. Not possible, of course, but here  they were. Either this was mass hallucination or Kass had moved Astarte  from certain death to the gate to freedom.

Tal snapped back into captain mode. "Med techs to the bridge. K'kadi, where's Scorpio?"

Scorpio popped into view, hovering at the very edge of the wormhole. Tal  had to swallow hard before opening his comm to the other huntership.  "Take her in, Tegge. We'll follow." The Scorpio winked off the hologlobe  displays, this time without K'kadi's help.

Tal turned to his chief navigation officer, his order hoarse, barely above a whisper. "Mical, take us home."

Tal sat by Kass's bed, holding her hand, as she'd once done for him. The  doctor assured him Kass was suffering from nothing more than  exhaustion, but he'd refused to leave her side. It wasn't as if he had  any pressing duties while they were traveling-with only an occasional  wobble-through the wormhole that was leading them home. K'kadi had come  and gone, Jagan too. Though the doc had grumbled, Tal allowed the brief  visits. The three Psyclids had saved both hunterships and everyone on  them, and they shared a bond Tal was only beginning to understand. As  much as he might consider Kass his own, he had to acknowledge that  K'kadi and Jagan were nearly as anxious about her as he was.         

     



 

A faint murmur. Kass's grip tightened on his hand. Tal leaned over the  bed, his lips hovering just above hers. "Aye, little witch, come on  back. You did it. We're on our way home."

Long, black lashes fluttered, stayed open. Two pools of warm, glowing amber stared up at him. "It worked?"

"It did. We're inside the wormhole, and it's highly unlikely Fleet will  follow us into the unknown, even if they can figure out where we've  gone."

"Casualties?"

"Nothing serious. A few broken bones, plenty of bruises. A couple of  concussions from flying debris. In fact, you're the only one left in  med."

"How long?"

Tal glanced at his chrono, "Seven hours, twenty-one minutes."

Kass made a face. "Good thing it worked the first time, or Fleet would  be adding a new debris field to the space charts." She pounded a fist on  the blanket. "Fizzet, I'm such a wimp!"

"Don't be an idiot!"

"Look at Jagan, look at K'kadi. They can go on for hours."

"But they can't move a huntership when it's surrounded and under fire.  Aye, dushenka," Tal added more gently, "it's your own version of  disappearing a ship."

Kass pouted. "I can't make space monsters either." She blinked. "What did you call me?"

"Dushenka. My people's midamara, only more so. Literal translation,  ‘little soul,' but it's more like saying, ‘darling' or ‘beloved.'"

"Dushenka." Kass seemed to savor the word. "I like it."