Chapter 14
Ned only managed to stay in his quarters for a few hours before he had to get out and walk around. He did not really know the crew, and he knew Mirana had discouraged any socialization with them, but there was no way he was spending however long it took the ship to be repaired just sitting around, pretending to prepare for something when he had no idea what was in his future. He could not really practice the use of his power in such tight quarters and with nothing at hand to destroy. And he had already read everything he could think of to catch up on the local culture, or whatever he was to call the difference between space life and the one he had left. He needed to get back to Smardwurst, and until he did he suspected that he would feel useless no matter what he did. But at least he could avoid feeling useless alone, with nothing to distract himself from the feeling.
After a quick peek out his door to make sure no one unexpected was there, Ned left his room and started pacing the ship. The main layout comprised a single deck with a hallway that ran in a rough circle, with the pricom, engine room, kitchen, and quarters opening off of it. As he passed the passage leading to the landing bay, he saw that a bulkhead sealed off the passage to the landing bay. He supposed that the station’s crew would be able to access the missile launchers and shield generators from outside the ship, so there should be no risk of being seen by any of them. Eventually he decided to visit the pricom, although he had to consciously ignore the mental image of Mirana’s scowl that accompanied the thought.
The pricom doors slid open, and Ned entered to find only Ablithra and Bortis there; evidently Jenzo and Kalru were out seeing to the repairs. Ablithra turned in the command chair and raised an eyebrow inquisitively, but then she turned back to her console without a word. Bortis smiled and swiveled in his chair.
“Ned! Come to monitor our progress?”
Ned forced a laugh; the last thing he wanted was for anyone to think that he would presume any kind of authority. “I’m still trying to absorb as much information as I can,” he explained. “I figured I can probably learn something just by watching for a while, if you don’t mind. I won’t touch anything.”
Bortis looked to Ablithra for a response, and when she gave none, Bortis waved Ned over. “Tell me what you see.”
Most of the readout was unintelligible to Ned, but he correctly pointed out the power levels of the shield generators and the warp drive, and he identified the status of the weapons; about a third of the missile payload had been restored already.
“How much is this costing?” Ned asked.
“It’s not cheap,” Ablithra said without looking up. “We used up more resources in that battle than we have the entire time we’d been aboard before that, I think.”
Ned did not have to ask whether the military was compensating them. It seemed a little unfair, but then Ned had to admit that every surviving ship would probably be telling the same story the next time it made it to a station for repairs. It had to be costly, even for a fleet backed by an interstellar empire. And once again, Ned found himself painfully aware of how much others had given for him.
“Thanks for rescuing us,” he managed awkwardly. “I know it can’t have been easy.”
“It’s our job.” Again, Ablithra spoke without looking up.
Ned looked over at her, and his curiosity flared again. “What made you sign on?” His question was not really aimed at either of them in particular, and when no one answered, Ned wondered if his question had been in appropriate.
“This is where it’s at,” Bortis said finally with a slightly bemused expression.
“Where what’s at?”
Bortis eyed him meaningfully. “The Plasma. You and Mirana. The Plasma Masters have made more of a difference in the last ten years than the rest of the Empire combined. Being on this ship means shaping the future.”
Ned smiled too. “I guess that’s true. I hope I haven’t disappointed you too much. You know, with the frantic retreat and all.”
“It’s not over yet,” Bortis said simply, turning back to his console.
And then another memory rushed back – the young pilots of Dragon Force telling Ned how much they had admired and appreciated him, right before they had flown off into a battle that almost surely would have seen them killed if not for Ned’s use of the Shield Crystal. The thought of Bortis basing his career choice on Ned’s power was particularly unsettling given the drastic loss of power he had just suffered. He wondered whether Bortis even knew about that and decided he almost certainly did not. Ned thought about how Bortis had shot Ned in greeting and brought his hand up reflexively as if to ward off a future laser blast.
“Experience,” Ablithra said, causing Ned to turn in surprise. She still had not looked up from her console. “Most of the old Anacronian and StarBlazer crews have been reintegrated, but there’s still a lot of resentment on some ships. A small ship like this offers experience that would have taken years in the fleet. And…” Finally Ablithra turned and looked at Ned. “I trust Miss Kelar. She knows what she’s doing. I hope you realize how important she is to the outcome of this war.”
“Believe me,” Ned assured her, “I know.”
Bortis tapped at his console a bit and then asked, “So, what are your plans?” Ablithra turned back to whatever she had been doing, and Ned supposed his answer had been satisfactory.
“I’ll transfer to Green Scorpion once we meet up – or to Galactron, if Green Scorpion isn’t there. Half the trouble is knowing how best to use the Plasma. Smardwurst or Marnax will probably have an idea.”
The com system beeped, and Ned saw that a transmission was coming in from the station’s payment office. “I need to take this,” Ablithra said, and Ned took the hint. He thanked her and Bortis quickly and hurried off of the pricom.
Alone again with his thoughts, Ned resumed pacing the ship. He knew that the minimalistic design was revolutionary, but he had a hard time understanding why all ships were not built this way. It was an impression born of naïveté, he knew; even on Earth it took a lot of people to run an aircraft carrier or a battleship. It stood to reason that a starship would be even more complex. But if that were the case, how had Viper constructed this one ship that seemed to be superior in every way? The hull, the cannons, the Plasmic transducer – somehow Dark Viper had been able to use his power to permanently affect other objects. Ned supposed that the Crystals and battle armor had been constructed in the same way, but Ned had to wonder how Viper had known how to do it. Had the Matrix Crystal simply given him the proper understanding? Or had there been other sources of power that Ned did not know about? It was an infuriating question, and Ned felt an inexplicable urge to destroy something.
Instead, he went back to his room and perused the ship’s database again. He learned nothing that felt important, but then again he supposed that any knowledge he gained would give him at least a potential advantage over where he’d be if he did not have it. The day passed slowly, and aside from a quick hello to Kalru when he went to the kitchen to grab some dinner, the evening arrived without contact from the crew. Before he headed to bed for the night, Ned thought he felt the ship shudder and decided that they must be underway. He half expected a request to charge up the Plasma Shield, but none came. Of course, Mirana probably would have told them not to ask for it. But what would he do if they did ask?
Ned had still not decided the next morning when Kalru Elgis contacted him shortly after breakfast and invited him to the engine room. Nemesis had left Delta Epsilon the previous evening, but beyond that Ned had been given no further updates on the ship’s status. He could only imagine that they were well away from anything, though, and that they were safe. He was a little nervous, though, as he walked into the engine room. Kalru was busy, apparently the graviton field around the port engine, but she turned as Ned entered.
“Miss Kelar said you might want to test out the Plasmic transducer again. She said the recent battle might have complicated things.”
Ned relaxed a little
, seeing that Mirana had at least given him implicit permission to discuss the change, although he was still not sure how to discuss his power with the crew. Biting his lip, he walked over to the transducer.
“How much did she tell you about the battle?”
Kalru shrugged. “The usual.”
Ned was not surprised. He turned his attention to the device, probing its interaction with the ether around him. He could sense its location, a quiet presence inside the metal casing. He held up a hand tentatively and reached out through the ether. He touched the device, wrapped his power around it, and brought the blue energy into normal space.
Nothing. Or as close to nothing as would make no difference. He could sense the presence of the ship’s warp field as his power flowed around it, but he could tell that whatever shielding he was creating was pitifully weak. He tried changing the way he formed his power, but he knew it was hopeless. It seemed that the device was designed to augment only focused, specially-given powers. Without being able to tap into the Shield Crystal’s power matrix, Ned had no way to give the device a pattern to draw from. He looked over at Kalru and saw that she was frowning.
“So no more shielding, I take it.”
Ned sighed. “Maybe I’ll figure out something eventually.”
“Should we be worried?”
Ned wanted very much to explain the whole situation to her; keeping secrets was almost as frustrating as needing answers to them. But he knew he had to respect Mirana’s authority here, not to mention minimizing the risk of leaking information to the rest of the galaxy.
“If it helps, I think it’s safe to say that I won’t be infiltrating any more warships in the near future.”
“Good to know,” Kalru said flatly, and walked back to whatever she had been doing. She did not have to remind Ned that General Harvey would not hesitate to send Nemesis up against Dread Phoenix with or without its Plasmic enhancements.
I do believe she doesn’t like me, Ned thought to himself as he left the room. The thought bothered him more than he felt it should.
Ned was pleasantly surprised when Ablithra’s voice came over the com link just a few hours later, announcing that they would meet up with Galactron soon. He excitedly packed up the few belongings he had and took him to the landing bay, where he stowed his things in his fighter. He would have been content to climb into the cockpit and wait out the remaining time there, but they were not that close, and he was fairly certain it would look odd for him to isolate himself like that. Instead he chose the opposite course, and walked back to the pricom. Again his reception met with only minimal acknowledgement, but no one asked him to leave.
“How are they?” he blurted out.
“The fleet is divided,” Ablithra said without turning. The Vortak attacked three planets simultaneously after taking Zhentyris. They lost one to Dread Phoenix, but held the other two. We’re meeting Galactron on the way to Urgatha, where the Vortak are expected to strike next.
Ned’s brow furrowed as he pieced together what was likely to happen next. They would arrive, and Ned would have yet another meeting aboard Galactron where he would tell everyone that he was at a loss and then wait for ideas to appear. He would feel nervous but determined and decide to go ahead in spite of the ambiguity of the situation and then go find Smardwurst in hopes of encouragement. He shook his head in frustration. It all seemed like such a waste. Maybe there were no alternatives, but Ned suspected he could speed things up at least a little.
“Can we contact them?”
Ablithra looked back at him in mild surprise. “You have a new message?”
“I think I have as much as I will when we meet up, and I don’t see any reason to put things off.”
Ablithra considered the request, then shrugged. “I’m not sure how General Harvey will feel about discussing the situation over an open channel, but there’s probably no harm in trying.”
Bortis poked at his console, and then the Anacron emblem appeared on the forward viewscreen along with a message saying “Stand by.” Ned supposed it would be unreasonable to expect an immediate response, but as the seconds ticked by, he felt himself growing nervous. Maybe waiting would have been wiser; after all, what was the rush?
Then Marnax’s face replaced the logo. He was sitting in his office, apparently alone. Marnax surveyed the scene, looking less than satisfied. “I’m glad you made it back,” he said simply. “Is Mirana not with you?”
Ned took a deep breath, forcing himself to go forward with his earlier plan. “She’s okay, Emperor. But the battle on Dread Phoenix did not go well. Nakmar Dren has joined with Dark Viper and become the Flame Master. His ship was like an oven, and he seemed to draw power from heat. There was this red crystalline material running through his ship, and it seemed that it extended his power into Dread Phoenix.”
Marnax stroked his beard, thinking. “Flame Plasma. That would explain his ability to draw energy from our weapons.”
“Yes. We tried to work our way toward the source of his Plasma beam, but the Vortak we met regenerated just like the ship. In the end, Dren himself came after us. I was able to protect myself, but I couldn’t absorb his power. It was like he commanded the Plasma throughout the ship. Like Dark Viper on Venom.”
“And Mirana couldn’t penetrate it?”
“No. Dren focused his attack on her, and…” Ned swallowed. Ablithra and her crew were remaining impassive, but Ned knew that what he was saying had to be shocking, especially given the little information they would be used to. And Ned was fairly certain that Mirana would not be the only one who would condemn his choice to share such details with them. But there was no turning back now. “Dren was going to kill her, Emperor. The only way I could think of to gather enough power to stop him was to destroy the Shield Crystal.”
“You what?”
“I absorbed the power the explosion released and knocked Dren back. I used everything I had to teleport Mirana and myself clear of the ship, and Nemesis picked us up.”
Marnax was aghast. “Your power is gone?”
Ned almost pointed out that until very recently he had had no proof that Ned or Mirana were even alive, so really this news was a gain, not a loss. But he reminded himself that he was speaking to the Emperor and held his tongue.
“Where is Mirana?”
“She’s searching for information on Nakmar Dren. She said that Viper’s choice to use him might lead to something we can use.”
“I see. And… what are your plans now?”
“I want to help however I can. I’m not invincible anymore, but I can still use the Plasma.”
Marnax shook his head. “The loss of the Shield Crystal is a severe blow, Ned.”
“I know. But I have an idea. Dread Phoenix blocked my attempt to teleport a missile inside it, but I believe I could be successful with other ships. If Captain Devorion or another pilot is willing to get me close enough, I think that might be worth a try.”
Marnax nodded, but his eyes seemed to be staring right through the camera.
Ablithra took the opportunity to interject. “Emperor, Miss Kelar has ordered us to assist in the upcoming battles. We have no Shadow drive, but we are recharged and rearmed.”
“Thank you. I can assure you we will put you to good use. We’ll see you soon.”
Marnax ended the link and saw General Harvey’s face replace the image of Nemesis’s pricom. Harvey was livid. “I cannot believe this,” he growled. “The Shield Crystal destroyed, to save that… and she’s not even here to continue the fight? What are we to do against two enemy Plasma Masters?”
“It’s not quite what I had hoped for,” Marnax agreed. “What about Dread Phoenix?”
Harvey seemed to relax a little. “We may be able to do something there. If it’s heat that gives it its power, then we should be able to develop a weapon that triggers an endothermic reaction on the shields. In theory, if we slam into them with something cold, the ship might not be able to charge its weapon and shields.”
/> Marnax nodded. “Get on that right away. Do you want to keep Nemesis here with us, or send it to Leridis?”
“I think I’ll keep it here for now. If Viper thinks that Ned or Mirana is with us, he might be more likely to send Dread Phoenix here instead of to a weaker target. And if he attacks elsewhere, Nemesis might still be able to get there fast enough to engage it.”
“Very well. I will contact Captain Devorion and see about-”
Marnax’s words were cut off by the battle alert siren. The Vortak were already on their way.