The Plasma Shadow

  Chapter 15

  Ned climbed out of his fighter and smiled as Smardwurst greeted him from the deck of Green Scorpion’s landing bay. There had been no reason to stay aboard Nemesis, so Ned had transferred immediately on arrival at Urgatha, where the next attack was expected. Smardwurst patted Ned on the shoulder as they walked to his assigned room. “Not the circumstances I had hoped for, but I am glad to see you back.”

  Ned nodded, happy to be back in familiar company but nervous about the upcoming battle. “Let’s just hope I can be of use this time,” he said a bit apologetically. “And that I don’t drag you into too much trouble.”

  Smardwurst chuckled. “I may not be a Starhawk pilot, but I do know my way around a cockpit.” Ned had learned that Starhawk was with another section of the fleet at the moment, but Smardwurst had convinced Captain Devorion and Major Harvey to let him be Ned’s escort for the upcoming torpedo runs. Ned was a little nervous about putting his friend in that much direct danger, but he could hardly ask for someone more “expendable” to go instead, so he had resigned himself to the plan.

  They reached Ned’s room, and Smardwurst motioned him inside, where Ned deposited his pack of belongings. “I need to check up on a few things,” Smardwurst said from the doorway. “I will call you when I am ready, and we can practice some maneuvers aboard Mandible.”

  When the door slid closed, Ned was surprised to find that his mind did not pester him with questions or doubts. The battle alert lights were flashing even here, and for the first time Ned felt like he was part of the ship’s preparations for battle. He was taking a greater risk than he ever had, he supposed, but it was not greater than the risk everyone else on the ship made every time they went into battle. Filled with a determination to make a difference in spite of the loss of the Shield Crystal, Ned clenched his fist and began gathering Plasma.

  An hour later, Ned found himself sitting behind Smardwurst aboard Mandible as it sped out of the launch bay and into space. Smardwurst’s fighter looked nothing like an aircraft – it was little more than a short, red tube with a rounded cockpit in front and engine pods bulging from the sides and top. But the important thing was that it had a rear seat, so Ned did not have to cram himself into a cargo hold this time.

  “I guess the main thing is to decide how far ahead you want to fire,” Ned said.

  Smardwurst sped away from Green Scorpion and then swiveled quickly, slowing down so that they locked position with the ship. “This is about as close as we can hope to get to a target without having our shields completely fried. Can you open a Vortex from here?”

  Ned concentrated. It was not easy, but he had gathered a lot of power around him before coming, and as he had with Ambelshack Devorion, Ned was able to create a trail of Plasma connecting Mandible’s starboard missile launcher to a spot inside Green Scorpion. “I’ve got it,” Ned said finally. We can’t really test it out, because opening the vortex would suck air out of the ship.

  “I understand. I will fly around for a while; see if you can maintain the position of the vortex.”

  Ned’s hold of the Plasma trail faltered as the fighter accelerated away from its original position, but Ned reconstructed the vortex energy, and after a bit of practice he was able to hold it in roughly the same position with respect to the fighter. He found himself closing his eyes to do it, vaguely sensing the fighter’s position and concentrating everything on the Plasma itself.

  “It seems to be working,” Ned said without opening his eyes. “Want to try some laser shots while we fly around?”

  “Good idea,” Smardwurst called back. “You can open the vortex now.”

  Ned felt a bit of a power drain once the vortex opened, but the opening was small, and he was able to hold it. He kept his eyes closed, but he could feel the vortex pulse with energy as Smardwurst fired laser shots through it, presumably into empty space.

  “The exit location seems to be fluctuating a bit. Are we at the end of your range?”

  Ned opened his eyes and saw what Smardwurst meant: as the fighter swerved around, laser shots sprayed out of nowhere some distance ahead, but the source was bobbing all over the place. Ned kept his eyes open this time and focused on the exit point, willing it to stay in the center of his vision.

  “Ah, that is much more consistent,” Smardwurst said.

  Almost immediately, the vortex faltered, and the lasers began firing from the cannon attached to the starboard engine bulge.

  “Sorry,” Ned breathed. “That wore me out.”

  “It was enough, I think. In battle, we will only need the vortex open for a few seconds at a time. But you should recharge your energy quickly. The Vortak will be here soon.”

  Ned could feel his heart pounding in his chest as the fleet coordinator counted down the seconds over the com link. Ned knew he was ready as he could ever be for this mission, but a thousand thoughts fought to distract him from his task. Hundreds or thousands of the people in the ships he could see out there were about to die. The emptiness of space lay less than half a meter from where he sat. His Crystal was gone. He was making his friend a target of an entire squadron. Ned shook his head to clear his thoughts. I am a Plasma Master, he told himself. I own this power. I discovered it. He visualized the Plasmic ether forming at his command.

  The counter reached zero. Myriad pinpricks of light flashed all across his field of view, and space erupted with laser fire. They were under attack.

  Ned did not know whether or not he should look at this point. He had been in battle simulators many times, but nothing prepared him for the overwhelming sensation of watching Smardwurst make his way through the deadly web of weapons fire and enemy vessels. Enemy shields glowed with Smardwurst’s expertly-aimed attacks, and sometimes he could pick out a fellow member of the Green Scorpion squadron as Smardwurst rescued it from pursuit. Other times Mandible’s shields lit up repeatedly, and it seemed that Smardwurst could not possibly break loose from the Vortak swarm. Smardwurst can handle it, Ned told himself. Focus on your job.

  And all too soon, it was time. Ned could see the bulk of a large Vortak battleship looming in front of him. “Ten seconds,” Smardwurst called. The friendly tone was gone; the Zalorian was issuing orders. The change was a little chilling, but Ned focused everything he had into creating a vortex at exactly the same spot as he had in training. Smardwurst brought them closer and began to slow. They were struck repeatedly by laser fire, and still he approached. “Now.”

  Ned brought the vortex to life and felt two pulses of power as Smardwurst fired. From within the battleship’s shield bubble, explosions blew out large sections of the hull. Smardwurst pitched his fighter forward but then quickly brought it up again, nearing the opposite side of the ship. “And again… Now.” Another pair of explosions detonated inside the Vortak vessel. Ned could tell its shields had come down completely as the shots that been peppering them now continued straight through to strike the hull directly.

  Despite the grim implications, Ned felt a rush of euphoria. He had done it. He had helped destroy a battleship with just four missiles. “Be ready,” Smardwurst called, snapping Ned’s attention back. Ned knew that Mandible’s shields could not be in good condition after that attack run, but already Smardwurst was targeting the next vessel. Ned took a quick look at that battle readout and saw that the ship he had attacked had just been destroyed by nearby starfighters. But the readout also told Ned that they were approaching another warship, so he snapped his attention back to the task of creating another vortex.

  A second warship fell to the same attack, then a third. By that time, though, Ned could see that Mandible’s shields were at critical levels, and Smardwurst headed back to Green Scorpion. It was only then that Ned realized that he had forgotten to even wonder about an obvious concern. “Where is Dread Phoenix?” he asked.

  Smardwurst did not respond immediately, since his fighter had just been surrounded by several smaller Vortak ships. “Güzhmäk! Divert all resources to immediate cover fi
re.” The battle readout showed Green Scorpion approaching, but it would have to make it past a few Vortak vessels to get here. Ned supposed it was too much to expect another ship to come to Smardwurst’s rescue when its own fighters were facing the same odds.

  But over the next minute or so, Ned started wondering whether the odds might not be as evenly distributed as he had assumed. It seemed like two full squadrons had suddenly come after Smardwurst and additional, larger ships were closing as well. Ned heard Smardwurst call Galactron and request further backup. They’ve figured us out, Ned realized in horror. They’re all after me.

  “I’m opening the vortex,” Ned heard himself say. “Let’s take these guys out.”

  Smardwurst said nothing, but Ned sensed that he understood. He opened the vortex and watched as Smardwurst pushed the exit point clear through an enemy fighter, blowing it apart in spite of its shields. A second fighter had been flying right at them, but now it pulled away, apparently sensing what Smardwurst was planning. Meanwhile, six others converged on Mandible’s stern.

  Forget that, Ned thought. “Let them come close. I’ll handle the aiming.” Smardwurst slowed with respect to his pursuers, and Ned reformed the vortex behind him. As it had been with the thugs he had attacked back on Earth, Ned could sense the life force of the pilots as they approached, and he connected his vortex to the first one’s position. “Fire.” He lost the sense of the pilot’s position and targeted the next. “Fire.” The ethereal Plasma associated with the ship scattered randomly. “Fire.” Ned’s sense of rising euphoria returned as a third ship exploded. Smardwurst took out two more on his own, but additional fighters had moved to surround them. “Get close to those two if you can,” Ned told him. He felt the presence of a pair of fighters approaching, both spraying Mandible with laser fire. Ned move the entrance point of his vortex out to catch an incoming missile, which appeared next to one of the fighters and destroyed it. Ned then teleported an incoming stream of lasers over to the second fighter, which exploded as well. Then Mandible shook violently as one of the larger ships connected with one of its lasers. An instant later a missile made it past Smardwurst’s defenses, and for a moment everything vanished in the light of the explosion.

  “We can’t take much more of this,” Smardwurst said solemnly. Green Scorpion was close now, but it was surrounded. And more missiles were streaming in. Ned reached out to them but found that, as it had happened in their training session, he was exhausted. “There’s just no Plasma around to absorb,” he realized out loud. “Try flying through the debris.”

  “What?”

  “There, ahead.” Ned pointed, then realized Smardwurst could not see his hand. He created a blue energy sphere some distance ahead and below them where he could sense a rapidly dispersing collection of Plasma among the debris of a destroyed starfighter. Smardwurst moved toward it, and Ned gathered the power as the passed by. He used everything he had to teleport away incoming weapons fire.

  “That is helping,” Smardwurst said as one of his companions destroyed another Vortak fighter. Smardwurst headed straight for the explosion. Again, Ned was able to absorb enough power to teleport away some of the weapons fire that was coming at them from every direction.

  Then thick, led laser beams were all around them, and Ned looked down at the console to see that Galactron had joined them. Several additional fighters appeared, and Ned sighed with relief as the attacks on Mandible died down.

  “Harvey is signaling us to dock on Galactron,” Smardwurst informed him as he came about. “They have a fresh fighter waiting for you, if you can continue.”

  The thought of leaving the battle early sounded appealing, but somehow Ned wanted to continue if he could. The Vortex Plasma was not really a strong area for him, but it was working, and it practically demanded that he keep using it. “It sounds like it’s worth a shot, if I can recharge enough.”

  Mandible ducked behind one of the lateral shielding platforms on Galactron and set down in a launch bay. Suddenly Plasma was all around Ned, and the moment he had climbed out of the cockpit he started gathering it toward him in visible waves of light. Smardwurst and the deck crew kept their distance, looking uncomfortable, but the rush of power was all that mattered at the moment. When Ned felt he had gathered as much as he could for now, he looked around and spotted a group of fighters that were still docked a short distance away, evidently kept in reserve. “I’m ready, Ned announced. Which fighter?”

  Smardwurst looked skeptical. “Are you sure it is a good idea to go out again? It felt like the whole fleet was after us. A few more minutes and the larger ships might have pinned us in.”

  Ned understood Smardwurst’s concern, but surely even a short run would be better than nothing. “I have to try,” he said, a little annoyed that his suit’s voice modulation took some of the inflection away.

  “This way,” called a nearby pilot already dressed in a flight suit. Ned hurried after him to the nearest fighter and climbed in behind him. “I’m Nerald Jalek. There’s not a lot of space behind the flight seat, but if you take off your armor I think you can fit.”

  The change in procedure threw Ned off a bit, and he hesitantly looked back at Smardwurst. The Zalorian was pacing. It was impossible to tell through the opaque helmet, but Ned got the impression that he was talking to someone.

  Jalek had the cockpit open. “Ready?”

  Ned hesitated. “Just a second.” Feeling awkward, he ran back across the landing bay to Smardwurst. “Is everything okay?”

  Smardwurst pulled off the helmet. “Güzhmäk just contacted me. It seems that Kjrvlnk has made quite a display of his feeling that we need to leave this battlefield immediately.”

  “He thinks we should surrender?”

  “No, not the fleet. You specifically. He says that the Vortak have been ordered to destroy my fighter at any cost.”

  Jalek looked a little thrown off too. “It might take them a while to identify this new fighter…”

  Ned shook his head. When I spoke with Kjrvlnk, I was practically begging him for information. I have to assume he knows what he’s talking about now that he’s talking.”

  “What if he just doesn’t want you to go out again because he’s afraid you’ll destroy more Vortak ships?” Jalek was fidgeting nervously, obviously a little uncomfortable with becoming the target of a whole fleet of Vortak.

  “You think he is working with them?” Smardwurst clearly regarded that as nonsense. “Considering those ships are currently trying to finish the job they started with him, that seems unlikely.”

  Ned wanted to get back out there and into the battle. He was surprised at how strong this desire was, but it seemed logical enough; he had a power that could protect the people out there. “What do you think, Smardwurst?”

  “I think it would be worth listening to Kjrvlnk before taking further action.”

  Ned bit his lip. There was certainly merit to that course as well. Certainly it would be safer. “Is Dread Phoenix out there?” he asked again.

  “No,” Jalek said. Reports say it’s leading an attack on Chigranus right now.

  “Can they charge your shields enough to get us back to Green Scorpion?”

  “It will take some time.”

  Jalek looked dissatisfied. “If you go there, Green Scorpion will take a lot of the attack that’s currently directed at Galactron. Can’t this Kjrvlnk guy talk to you over the com link?”

  Smardwurst shook his head. “It is hard enough to communicate with him in person.”

  Ned was not going to get any further information here, and he knew it. He would just have to make a decision. “Let’s get out there,” he said. “Even if it’s just for a few minutes, having me out there as a target will make things a little safer for the other pilots. I have to try.”

  Now that he was committed, he hurried across the deck, powered off his armor, and climbed into the storage area behind the flight seat. He felt even more vulnerable here, without his armor and accompanied by someone he di
d not even know. But he forced his thoughts and concerns outward as Jalek’s fighter left the landing bay and made its way clear of Galactron’s shields.

  Ned’s comment about “just a few minutes” proved to have been quite applicable. Ned was astounded at how many directions Jalek’s fighter was attacked from at once, even though it stayed fairly close to Galactron. Ned did his best to protect it, but that was about all he could manage; each time he tried to actually target an enemy vessel, the incoming damage spiked dramatically. It was less than ten minutes before Jalek had to bring Ned back.

  But Galactron had plenty of reserve fighters, and Ned lost count of the number of times he swallowed his fear and let that inner drive to use the Plasma lead him back out into the battle. Each time he was able to recharge a little less, and each time he felt like he was doing a little less good. But he was doing some good. And he was using his power, which in a way was enough of a justification by itself.

  He was in the middle of a run – calling it an “attack run” would have been a blatant hyperbole – when abruptly the smaller Vortak ships all turned and headed back toward their host vessels.

  Jalek sounded just as surprised as Ned felt. “They’re… leaving. It looks like we won.”

  Ned felt a mix of excitement and relief. “Should we pursue them?”

  “We can. I guess we might get a final shot at one of the cruisers.”

  Almost immediately, Green Scorpion appeared on the readout. Smardwurst had headed back to his ship once Ned had transferred to Galactron, but Ned could not help but be touched that his friend’s first thought would be to join him as soon as he could.

  “Nedward,” Smardwurst’s voice called over the com link. “Is everything okay?”

  “We’re fine,” Ned assured him. “We’re going to make a final run at them.”

  “Green Scorpion will back you up.”

  “This could still be a trap,” Jalek reminded them.

  “In war it is always a trap,” Smardwurst replied. “We are up for it if you are.”

  Ned and Jalek targeted a smallish warship at the edge of the rapidly converging Vortak attack force, but it jumped to warp before they could get anywhere near Ned’s range. The other ships were vanishing too, flashing into hyperspace as soon as they could get clear of the Anacronian ships’ weapons. A few of them exploded, finished off before they could escape, and then the weapons fire stopped. Ned leaned back as best he could in his cramped position and sighed.

  “That’s it,” Jalek said, sounding just as relieved and worn out.

  “Can you drop me off on Green Scorpion? There’s something I need to find out.”