Space Knight Page 3

  Ludas’ eyes widened. “There’s no way out of here. I can’t die! I’m not even meant to be here! I should have graduated without any field missions.” His voice turned into a shriek. “I told my father I’m too important to go on the field. I’m meant to be an officer!”

  I swallowed and opened my control screen. The link to the navigator was still broken and incapable of carrying even the smallest message. The rift’s scrambling effects reached even to the extraction zone.

  “I’ll take as many out as I can,” I whispered as I stood from Alice’s side.

  I felt the same frustrations as Ludas, so it was hard to be angry with him. This mission wasn’t supposed to turn out this way. I’d worked my ass off to get through the Academy like my father had done. Who was going to take care of Mom if I died here? She never wanted me to become a knight. When she told me about the scholarship waiting for me, I’d gone against her wishes and started at the Academy.

  If only I’d been quicker to get to Alice’s side. If only I’d fought harder. If only I’d been able to afford better equipment. There were so many things I could have done differently.

  The sounds of the Grunts grew closer, and I took a deep breath to steady my nerves. After I’d taken out my share of lizards, the rest would eat me alive. Even if I somehow survived this wave, the starship would nuke the place, and there’d be nothing left of me to send back to my mother.

  Angry Grendel screeches filled my ears. They were all around us now.

  I wished I was back on the Academy starship with Alice and Ludas.

  My stomach lurched suddenly, and I gasped with surprise.

  I was standing on the starship’s bridge, cold steel beneath me, with Alice on the ground and Ludas standing behind me.

  “How—“ Ludas gasped as his eyes opened.

  “Captain . . .” the commander said as she noticed us.

  “What is it, Commander?” the captain growled. “We have fifty cadets missing on Tyranus, one of which is Duke Barnes’ beloved whelp. Not to mention a sergeant, and a point clerk. Beyond reason, our navigator cannot contact a single person. Unless you’ve discovered some way of—“ He turned from the computer interface. As he glanced from me to Ludas, his surprise outmatched the commander’s. “You’re cadets. But there was no extraction portal? How did you get here?”

  “Our jump mage,” I said quickly. “She brought us back.”

  Ludas cocked his head at me, but he didn’t say anything.

  Alice was definitely dead before we’d jumped, and if I’d somehow been responsible for our instantaneous escape, it was outlawed magic which would send me straight to the Facility.

  I didn’t know if Ludas understood what I’d done, but the brief flash of suspicion vanished from him as he broke into tears.

  “I’m alive!” he screamed. “I’m fucking alive!”

  “Get this one cleaned up,” the captain said to a yeoman. “Barnes will shit bricks if we deliver his son to him looking like this.”

  The yeoman took a blubbering Ludas while I was left to stare at a dead Alice.

  Without saying anything to me, the captain turned back to the display screen. He brought up a holographic image of Tyranus and zoomed into the rift site.

  “What happened down there, Cadet?” the captain asked.

  “We were overcome by Grendels,” I said. “The point clerk said it was a Level Three instead of Level One.”

  The captain bristled. “My God . . . then we cannot delay. The Grendels cannot take one of our terraformed planets. Commander, blast it.”

  “Yes, Captain.” The commander returned to her console.

  “There might be survivors,” I blurted out.

  The captain narrowed his eyes at me before returning to the commander. “Do it. Then find out what happened there. This colossal fuck-up won’t be on my head.”

  “Yes, Captain.” The commander initiated the countdown.

  When it reached zero, I watched the viewscreen as the warhead ejected from the starship’s weapons hangar. It hit Tyranus, and a mushroom cloud enveloped the entire left side of the planet.

  The commander stepped out from her console and approached me. “This is the jump mage who brought you back?” She nodded at Alice.

  “Yes,” I said. A yeoman came and took Alice’s corpse.

  The commander studied me for a moment as though she knew Alice hadn’t been the one to bring us to the starship. “I’ll see she gets the appropriate honors at the graduation. We have thirty minutes before our ship mage brings us back to Caledonia. In the meantime, you’ll need to come with me.”

  I nodded to the woman and stood without her help. Then I let her lead me into the briefing room so I could give her a full explanation about the failed mission

  Chapter 2

  The Academy starship’s commander interviewed me for seven days while the ship was docked at the Fortress Bratton. I repeated every action I’d taken during the Tyranus mission dozens of times and answered every question with the absolute truth.

  Except how we got back to the ship.

  “So Alice Jones opened a portal, at which point, you all arrived on the starship?” the commander asked. A holographic map of the rift site floated above the escritoire in her office. Various markers indicated where I’d fought the Grendels, and digital scrolls recounted the events from the rift site to the extraction zone.

  “That’s correct, Commander.” I hated lying to an RTF officer, but if the Academy discovered I’d somehow gotten us off Tyranus, I’d end up on a table with a probe up my ass.

  Or worse.

  The commander sighed as she gazed at the holo and shook her head a dozen times. “I’m afraid none of this adds up . . .”

  My heart stopped. Was she about to call in the guards and have me taken away to the Facility? I’d had hardly any sleep for the last week because I’d been wondering when this moment would come.

  The mind-reading mages known as diviners would then rifle through my mind, and they’d know for certain I’d performed unauthorized magic on the planet. Kingdom law forbid the use of diviners outside of criminal courts, but such stipulations would vanish if I was facing charges.

  “. . . that is unless my hypothesis is correct,” the commander finished after a long pause. “And now it’s conclusively proven.” She nodded to herself, removed her spectacles, and then her eyes met mine. “One of your fellow cadets must have manifested while the rift was opening. We are done here. You can--“

  “Manifested?” I shouldn’t have even asked. I should have gotten my ass out of her office right then, but I was curious about what she meant.

  “Unauthorized magical abilities. A mutation event. It adversely affected the Tyranus rift. Such events are so infrequent these days; it’s an anomaly we hadn’t accounted for. Suffice it to say, you’re lucky you survived. I’m sorry these interviews have taken so long. I’m sure you would have rather been celebrating your upcoming graduation with your family members.”

  “It’s not a problem.” I was just glad not to be shackled and hauled off for dissection.

  “Do you have any family coming to the ceremony?” she asked, and I was a bit surprised by her interest.

  I shook my head. I didn’t want to tell the commander my home was a two-thousand-mile trip from Bratton, and Mom didn’t have the currency to take a shuttle. The thought only made me more determined to get through the graduation and start earning Kingdom Points.

  “No matter,” she said. “You’ll have more than a few fans cheering you on. By the way, Ludas Barnes put a word in for you. He organized the assignment you desired.”

  “To be honest, I wasn’t expecting him to follow through.” After we arrived on Bratton, Ludas thanked me profusely for saving his life. I’d been taken aback by his gratefulness. He asked if he could repay me, and I told him getting me on board the RTF Valor as a squire would be great. Ludas agreed, and he seemed sincere.

  “We normally don’t have young men with your background joini
ng the ranks. Don’t get me wrong, I’m glad to see an Outlander like you in the forces. It’s just unusual.”

  I understood what she was inferring. I was poor, and the Royal Trident Forces was meant for the upper crust of our society. Being a squire in the RTF was dangerous, but it was also glorious.

  “Still, you earned your way,” she continued. “I see you scored in the top 5% of your class. In fact, if the circumstances of your graduation had been different, you might have been given awards for having set a number of records. Anyway, your test scores meant it didn’t take a lot of wrangling for Ludas to get you where you wanted. Must say, I’d have thought you’d have requested something a little more challenging.”

  I wasn’t sure of the commander’s intent, but I assumed it was a nice way of telling me I didn’t belong on a starship like the RTF Valor. I didn’t let it get to me though. I was used to people making assumptions based on where I’d come from.

  After the commander dismissed me, I left the briefing room and realized that I had forgotten to ask her about the Grendel plasma rifle that I had carried with me onto the bridge. She had confiscated it for evidence, but it would have been worth a lot of Kingdom Points to me. I debated returning to the room to inquire about the weapon, but I also worried that she might want to ask me more questions. I needed to get to my graduation, so I decided to forget about the rifle and focused my legs on exiting the Academy starship.

  The doors opened onto the docking bay. All around me were the vessels of the Royal Trident Forces. I didn’t need to access the kingdom’s inventory on my prot-belt for the details of each starship. I knew every model like an old friend. There were Omuras with forklifts transporting giant containers into their cargo holds. I eyed the sleek Orcas, painted black and white, and imagined sitting inside one while their ionic thrusters shot them through space.

  The last vessel I passed was the Valor. It was an Assault Cachalot and the best starship in the entire fleet. I couldn’t help but stare at the gleaming metal of the massive combat vessel as I walked by. I wasn’t the only one either. The ship was docked here to attend the ceremony, and I threaded through a crowd of spectators staring at the magnificent ship.

  After graduation, I’d be on this warship, sailing across the galaxy and earning my keep. Maybe Ludas wasn’t as bad as I thought. He’d gotten me the assignment of my dreams, after all.

  I was so busy looking at the starship, I wasn’t watching where I was walking, and I collided with the back of a robed man. He grunted with annoyance and turned to face me.

  “You lost, kid?” The man rubbed speckling powder over his silver enchanter robes as I stepped back from him. Long gray hair hung in a braid over one of his shoulders. The man was a bit too tall, and his shoulders too wide for a usual enchanter, so I figured he must have been a washed up soldier.

  “Oh, sorry for bumping into you.” I was wearing my civilian garb so the enchanter couldn’t have known I was a few hours away from becoming a squire. “I’m about to be assigned to the Valor, so I was a bit distracted looking at her.”

  “Assigned to the Valor, huh? You’re a lucky man, then.” The enchanter scrubbed his hands with a cloth, leaving behind remnants of the glowing arcane specks used to draw runes.

  “Sure am,” I said, ignoring the man’s smirk of disbelief. “I’m graduating today.”

  “So you’re one of the cadets who survived Tyranus.” His smirk faded into an expression of admiration. “I hear you’re an excellent soldier. Although you’re going to be a tardy one if you don’t get moving.”

  I checked the time on my prot-belt and realized I was running late. I sprinted out from the bay and into the fortress’s main drag. Hailing a sky carriage, I got inside and punched in the numbers for the Academy’s spire. While the carriage swung and swayed as it moved from one cable to another, I stared outside at the grand sky fortress known as Bratton. The fortress orbited my home planet, Dobuni--one of eighteen celestial bodies under the Caledonian Kingdom’s rule.

  Bratton was like a primitive castle made entirely of bleached metal. The imposing fortress was built on an orbiting platform comprising over seven hundred square kilometers. Hundreds of carriages moved along metal cables from one spire to another. Wrapped around the spires were silver wheels etched with gravity runes glowing brilliantly. I remembered watching Bratton orbit the planet from my home in the tenements, always fascinated by its pulsing lights. Now that I was soaring along the skyline, I wasn’t any less impressed.

  When the carriage arrived, I linked my belt to pay the fee. The carriage interface beeped loudly and registered an error. Before I could check my currency balance, a knight poked his head into the carriage.

  “This one taken?” he asked. His dreadlocks were tied back, and faint runes glowed against the dark skin of his neck. My eyes were then drawn to the four-pronged kite shield embossed on the chest of his white dress uniform--the shield knight sigil.

  “I’m just arriving,’ I said. “I . . .”

  He glanced at the interface and gave me a knowing smile. “I’ll get it,” he said as he keyed his Master-class belt. Everything about the knight was massive. Most shield knights were big, but this guy was at least seven feet tall, and his muscles bulged beneath his uniform. I wondered how he ever found armor big enough to fit into. In full-gear, he’d probably look like a walking tank.

  “Thanks for taking the fare,” I said as I stepped out of the vehicle.

  “Wait a minute . . .” The knight looked me up and down. “You’re one of the cadets who took on a whole Grendel horde, aren’t you?”

  I shrugged. “It wasn’t exactly like that.”

  “Don’t be modest,” he said with a grin. “Everyone has heard what you and Duke Barnes’ son did on Tyranus. You might end up a grand knight one day.” He winked at me and entered the carriage.

  “Thank you. I’ll do my best.”

  “I’m sure you will. Take care,” he said with another wink, and then the doors closed.

  As I took the elevator to my lodgings, my steps were lighter, and I couldn’t help feeling like things were finally looking up. The doors opened with a hiss, and I crossed the long corridor to my room.

  I unclipped my prot-belt and laid it on my bed. The Novice class item identified me as a cadet in the RTF, granted me access to the Caledonian network, and, most importantly, enabled me to modify the kingdom’s Runetech. As soon as I graduated, I was going to purchase a new belt, among other things. I couldn’t wait to see what I could buy with the Kingdom Points I’d accumulated.

  Folded neatly beside my belt was my ceremonial uniform: a full white coat with matching trousers. The items once belonged to my father, and from the way the coat hugged my shoulders when I buttoned it over my shirt, I was a little bigger than he’d been.

  I attached my belt and glanced in the mirror. I didn’t see anything indicating I was a mutant. But then I’d never seen a mutant before. I couldn’t be sure there were any outward signs. The commander certainly hadn’t identified me as one from the way I looked.

  For all I knew, Alice had been the one to bring us back to the starship somehow, and the mutation event was some cadet other than me.

  No, it had to have been me. I desired more than anything to be on the Academy starship, and then we were there.

  What was my ability to teleport if not a mutation? My skin paled and my mouth lost all moisture as I considered the implications. Was I responsible for the deaths of my fellow cadets, for the death of Alice?

  I spun away from the mirror, not allowing myself to think along those lines. If I wanted to remain a squire after graduation, I couldn’t teleport ever again.

  With renewed resolve, I turned back to the mirror and traced my finger over the intricate embossing on my coat. On my right breast was the royal symbol of the Caledonian Kingdom: a glowing trident. Today, I would become a squire, and take the first step toward knighthood. I wished Mom could have been here, but I knew she would be proud when she watched the ceremony on
the Cube.

  I exhaled and left for the amphitheater in the Academy’s carriage. I didn’t need to key-in my belt for this trip since it was inside the same zone. I watched hundreds of other carriages make their way to the massive amphitheater for the graduation. My heart fluttered as I thought about all those people looking at me. It wouldn’t only be them; the ceremony would be broadcast to billions of others. For a few hours, I’d be on every Cube throughout the Caledonian Kingdom.

  Situated in the middle of the spires, Bratton’s amphitheater was an enormous domed arena with seating for over ten thousand. From my vantage point high above the arena, I could see the seats were full, despite only two cadets graduating today. Core World nobles and foreign dignitaries sat in the elevated circle, members of the Royal Trident Forces lined the center auditorium, and civilians amassed on the ground floor.

  The carriage lurched to a halt, and I made my way through the arena’s reception. By the time I reached the podium overlooking the arena, I was feeling unsure about my presence here today. Behind me were dozens of caskets. I glanced at them for only a second, but the thought lingered that I was responsible for the deaths of my classmates.

  Ludas stood beside me in a uniform similar to mine, except the Core World noble crest ran along his cuffs and collar. We awaited the arrival of whichever royal would be knighting us. I would have liked it to be Queen Catrina, but she didn’t attend the graduations personally any more.

  I’d been to three other ceremonies as a cadet. Normally I couldn’t hear myself think for all the cheering family members, but today a somber atmosphere silenced the crowd. Most everyone was garbed in the black robes of mourning. Even the nobles seemed to have chosen to don darker clothing, rather than their usual gaudy attire.

  “Thanks for following through for me,” I said to Ludas.

  His grin vanished, and he gave me a confused look.

  “You got me assigned to the Valor,” I clarified.