2: ENOLA GAY
All I ask is a tall ship and a star to steer her by,
John Masefield - Sea Fever
It was a nice sunny day on the oceans of Ravnica. The Enola Gay sliced gracefully through the water. She was a copy of a 12m sailing / performance yacht from the early 21st century. Originally designated the X-40, Razia and I could easily handle her, and she had plenty of room for the three of us. Both Sara and Razia looked absolutely stunning in bikinis. Their wings were free and both angels enjoyed the rather elemental experience of sailing a yacht on the open seas. We were about three days out of port, and in deep waters. The scanners promised fair weather, and we were just enjoying the elemental feel of the water under the keel, and the air passing through our sails (and their wings). Not to toot my own horn, with the regimen of computer aided meals I was still a fine specimen of a 45-ish year-old human, and could hold my own with the ship and her handling, as long as my feet remained on the deck. I could handle aircraft and spacecraft, but ladders, climbing masts – no way! The angels however, were perfect specimens of both beauty and fitness, while Razia had handled a ship with sails before, the first Parhelion.
The song was playing in the background, "It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been. We got your message on the radio, conditions normal and you're coming home." The angels didn't know the meaning of the lyrics. But they eventually clued into the ship's name, when I finally relented and told of the story of the original 'Enola Gay'. I named our sailboat in memory that I was the one…
"You did drop the first multi-megaton weapon on Ravnica," Razia was saying.
"And what about those mana-bombs that you like dropping on occasion. They're pretty comparable to the little boy bomb…"
"Only the chosen ones are spared," was Razia's comeback.
"The guild pact dies hard around here, I see," I concluded. With the sails down and the ship slowly drifting on calm waters, we all cuddled and enjoyed the sunset. There were no insects this far from shore, so we watched the stars come out.
I awoke in Sara's arms. As the angels don't actually need sleep on Ravnica, they took turns sleeping with me. I'd go to sleep with both of them and would wake up with only one. Razia entered the cabin. "Rise and shine! Rise and shine for the blackball line!" Razia has found my nautical history books. And yes I was a sentimental old fool who liked to collect books. Real books made from paper. It took quite a while to regain only a part of my former collection from the 21st century. A quick breakfast, and yes, all the bonded angels tended to eat with their mortal counterparts, even if they didn't need to. It was mid morning when a beep sounded from our scanners. Something large and aquatic was approaching from beneath the waves…
…It was the Newton. She surfaced beside the Enola Gay, and Calrea stuck her head out the airlock. "All right you love birds, you are needed back at Sunhome! Not a rush so you can sail back at your leisure."
"See you in two days," I replied. We put up the sails and headed back to shore, while Calrea decided not to play submarine on her trip ashore.
"Calrea's getting a little uppity since you taught her how to pilot a starship," Razia mentioned. "She needs to stop hanging around you!"
"Like the guild mages don't know about our relationship," I replied.
"Yes but getting into the affairs of mortals and having affairs with mortals are two different things," Sara quipped.
"Affairs? I hope it's more than just an affair…"
"Of course it is," Sara replied while dragging me back to the cabin. Razia wasn't about to let the two of us be alone this morning either…
We had to use the engines when there was no wind. So we reached port earlier that we originally wanted to. We parked the Enola Gay in our berth and left the marina for Sunhome. Entering the main doors and surprising the enforcers, we took the lift up to the guild mages chamber. Angels in bikinis was a totally new experience for the Boros Legion! Then again I was also out of uniform. We entered the guild mages chamber and asked, "What's up, doc."
The guild mages stared at us like I had grown another head. "What, haven't seen anybody in a swimsuit before?" I just had to ask.
"Umnn, well, no actually..." the head guild mage stammered. "We're not in that much of a hurry if you wish, you can get changed…"
Razia grabbed my arm and led me out into Feather's office. "My Legion does not expect its leaders to show up in swimwear! We DO need to get changed…"
"Ok, Ok! We'll just go aboard the Parhelion II and get our uniforms from our quarters…" And that's what we did. Wearing something more authoritative, we returned to the guild mage's chambers. Feather, and Edana would be waiting for us there.
"I didn't expect your legion to be that prudish…"
"We're the angelic echelon, and should act like it," Razia replied.
"Speak for yourself. I'm just a drunken human who happens to be in love with a pair of angels," I said.
Razia just grabbed me and gave me a smooch, a really long smooch, the kind that you really need to come up for air, that kind of smooch. Razia didn't need to breath here, on Ravnica. But I did. When she finally relented I said, "Ok, Ok, I give! Let me breathe!"
"Going to behave?" Razia asked.
"Yes, yes!" I looked at Sara, who was trying not to laugh…
"We are in uniform, are we not?"
"Red and white tunics. Our Legions' colours," Sara finally responded. She was in tears, trying not to laugh at me. Then she couldn't hold it in anymore. The three of us burst into uncontrolled laughter just outside of the guild mages chambers. When we finally came to our senses, we entered the chamber, both in uniform and a more solemn mood.
"All right, what's so important that you had to drag us away from our sailing trip?" At this time Razia had decided to put on her 'angry face'. She was actually enjoying our outing…
"You'd better see for yourself…" The head guild mage stated. He had brought up a scene on our main viewer. As I mentioned previously, the guild mages chamber now looked more like the bridge of a star ship than anything else…
We were looking at the Utvara spaceport. There was a Cardassian freighter there, but coming into landing were a trio of D-8 K'tinga class warships.
"So, there's Klingons in the quadrant," I off-handedly remarked.
"Don't they bother you?" The guild mage asked.
"Nope, not at all. The Klingons are welcome here. That's Teysa's spaceport, and there's nothing we can do about it," I answered. "If that's all you dragged us back here for…" I wondered if Razia would mind if I shot one of her guild mages. It turned out that there was something more.
"This ship landed two days ago. We believe it to be Romulan…" the guild mage stated. "I know you would want to be brought up to date on them."
OK, now you have my undivided attention. A Romulan freighter is interesting news. How about we know what it's carrying…the screen zoomed in.
"Crates of weapons. Lots of crates of weapons," I told Razia. "Somebody was getting a shit-load of weapons, and I'll bet it's the Dimir."
"So, somebody is equipping an army, and it isn't my Legion." Razia surmised.
"Fun times ahead…" Sara quipped.
"It looks like hammer duty just got a little tougher," Razia mentioned.
"I don't think that they're equipping people with disruptor rifles, just to shoot at your Minotaurs. With that kind of firepower, the targets would be-"
Razia put a finger to my lips. "Lets not go there again. I can't have you nuking the entire planet."
"Only the chosen ones are spared," I quipped.
"Do I need to kiss you again?" Razia responded with.
"Nope, quite all right, never mind…" I backed off with.
Pivlic's rebuilt tavern, what's this? Round three? But like the phoenix, it keeps rising from the ashes of its last incarnation. This time it was situated under the deflector shield that protected Teysa's newly built manor house. Besides, this is where the angels hook up with the other mortals of the Boros Legion. And of course it's where I found some of the best bumbat on the planet. So here I was, back at Pivlic's, having a few brewskis. Pivlic was beaming about his newest iteration of his bar.
Pivlic pulls a weapon from under the bar. "Check this out," he tells me.
"A modern disruptor rifle, of Romulan manufacture," I identified. "Do you know how to use it?"
"Ah so you know its origin. Good. And yes it came with an instruction manual. There was a ship here last week that brought a whole shipload of these things. Unfortunately the Orzhov only bought half of the cargo…" Pivlic trailed off.
So, the Orzhov had bought up half of that freighter's supply. Maybe it was a run on speculation after all, I thought. "Is that all the freighter brought?" I had to ask.
"Nope. They brought these heavy weapons emplacements as shown here," Pivlic replied, while bringing up a file on a Romulan PADD. They have on offer anything in this catalogue," Pivlic responded.
Apparently the Romulans were willing to deal with anybody that they could. "Mind if I go shopping?" I asked Pivlic.
"Of course not. I soon expect the Orzhov to have an exclusive contract with the Romulans for small arms sales here on Ravnica."
We'll see about that.
As I was going over the 'catalogue' of Romulan goods, Razia and Teysa had entered Pivlic's. When Teysa saw me reading the PADD, she shot Pivlic a look. I noticed.
"Hey, just because Relar and me have a feud going on, doesn't mean either I or the Boros isn't interested in their hardware. I'm an independent Rim-Worlder, remember," I reminded Teysa.
"That's right, you work for…" Teysa said as she turned to Razia.
"Even I believe in being cost effective," Razia mentioned. "To me mana-less technology is mana-less technology. Whatever works for the least amount of Zinos."
"Since when did the angels of Ravnica become concerned with Zinos?" Teysa asked.
"Since Feather became the richest angel, and one of the richer persons on this planet. Since our rescue, the Boros angels have become much more involved in the affairs of mortals," Razia paused to give me an embrace.
The fullness of our relationship finally dawned on Teysa. Apparently no one here on Ravnica outside of our inner circle realized the full extent of the bonding between the 'star ship crew' and the Boros Angels. At this time the cat was out of the bag, but Szadek had already realized this by now.
"You know, allies such as the pair of you … wait. The three of you, could be mutually beneficial to me, as I am as much at odds with my own syndicate," Teysa admitted. She was willing to disclose her weakness while she figured out that Sara was just as involved. "By the way where is Sara?" Teysa concluded as she parsed out the relationship.
"Funny you should ask that," Razia stated, as she pointed towards the entrance to Pivlic's. As everyone in here turned towards the doors, Sara made a grand entrance, walked up to us and gave me a smooch. Sara was the 'smoochier' one of the two angels. "By the way Teysa and I made a deal to put a Boros garrison here in town."
"Cool. Why not? This place could use some policing, and who best to provide that?" I questioned.
"But that's not all," Razia replied. "This garrison will have a few new features."
"Like what?" I had to ask.
"Like an office for the guild Parun and entourage, while the garrison sits on Boros property, under the Orzhov shields…"
"But the only property here would be –"
"Exactly. That's where the garrison will be built," Razia replied. Razia had effectively booked the land for Kos'/my house for the garrison. Not that I really minded, as the garrison would be reinforced, have a Boros office and quarters for us, as well as a landing pad for the Newton. It would also be built on bedrock after the Romulans cleaned up the crater. We would end up having to train the Boros recruits with disruptor rifles, of course…
Pivlic piped up, "Will you be staying for dinner?"
"Of course," Razia replied.
"Since when do angels eat dinner?" Teysa was now incredulous.
"Since we have bonded with our mortals, or when we are stuck in the mana-less universe," Razia replied. "If you take your angels of despair for a long enough trip into that universe, you will have to train them to eat, drink, and sleep, as they won't have a mana source to draw upon. And in case you didn't know, all the Boros angels now draw a salary from the guild, and have our affairs handled by…"
"Pivlic," Teysa concluded.
"Of course," Razia responded.
Teysa shot Pivlic another look. Pivlic just shrugged. It's always Pivlic, that slippery imp. He had made Feather rich with just 22 years of a constables pay, while the angels decided as officers of the guild to take an officers salary – specifically, the same wages as a guild-mage, the top humans of the Boros Guild. It was "all good", and Pivlic would be the one to invest the angels' funds ethically while 'growing their wealth' as he did for Feather. In fact, Pivlic had pioneered the idea of 'ethical investing' thanks to the angels. I also bet he has pioneered 'unethical investing' for those darker guilds…
"Mind if I join you?" Teysa asked.
"Not at all! Please…" Razia responded. "You are effectively our host here in Utvara, but expect some 'looks' from the locals…"
"Not a problem," Teysa replied. "In any case, it will give my subjects the official stamp of approval of the Boros angels' presence here…"
"Why thank you!" I responded with. "If they get used to our presence then maybe your reclamation zone will grow to embrace the Orzhov and the Boros as partners…"
"Works for me," Razia replied. That was shocking, I thought.
"Why not? As allies, we can take on the entire planet! It will also show the other guilds that we can work together," Teysa concluded. Oops. An Orzhov friend of the Boros! That's new, but not unwelcome, I thought. With the Boros helping the Selesnya Conclave during the deca-millenium, we could also rely on that guild to help out when needed. Their "Ledev" patrollers fill in the gap where the Boros (Wojek actually) miss on this planet. Now it was only a matter of time when the Boros absorbed the hazzda patrollers into the Wojeks…
A new day dawned over the streets of Ravnica. Time to get up and go to work. Donning some light armour and some specialized equipment I was headed back into the under city. Only Kos was joining me on this trip.
"So, what are we up to today?" Kos asked.
"Spying on the spies," I replied. "I want to get a really good look at Duskmantle."
"I thought you enjoyed life!"
"I'm not going to be walking right up to it. I'm not even getting as close as to where Nergat tunnelled under the lake. That's what this is for," I replied as I handed over the power scanners.
"So where are we headed?" Kos was checking out the power scanner.
"As shallow into the under city as I can get. Remember the smuggling ring you busted under the restaurant? Lets just say that the restaurant has a few basements under it, and one has a balcony."
"You know they might not be willing to give you permission to wander around their basement," Kos warned.
"Who said I was asking?" I patted my phaser on my hip. Kos looked at the phaser rifle he was carrying and gave me a wicked grin…
I was looking out over a vast open cavern in the under city. Duskmantle was at the other end of the cavern, surrounded by its moat, a really BIG moat … actually a small lake. "In a space where there is no room, in a structure that was never built, meets the guild that doesn't exist," I muttered.
"Well, actually they don't," Kos, corrected.
"I'm not following you."
"The Dimir are not a guild anymore. The new guild pact just has the nine guilds," Kos stated.
"But I'm still looking at this guild hall which is currently being fitted with disruptor emplacements. And in that building a ghost-vampire with a hate on for my angels is scheming away. And he's been doing it for longer than the likes of you and me-"
CRACKLE-WUMP!
A blast of green plasma erupted out of the hatch to this basement level.
"Time to go!" Kos and I stepped into the triangle of three devices while I flipped a switch on the first. Blue beams of light surrounded us inside a blue triangle and the flash and metallic scream of the transporters whisked us away. "Now you know why having an extra stun grenade handy is SOP," I said as we left the transporter room for the bridge of the Parhelion II.
We had put the scans up on the main viewer.
"Well, we won't have to worry about those disruptor emplacements," I mentioned.
"What do you mean by that?" Razia asked as she entered the bridge with Sara.
"Well, take a look at them. Those are going into permanent mountings in a defensive position. They're being designed to cover both the surface and possible subsurface access to Duskmantle. They are there to keep us out. I think that waltzing into Szadek's basement actually scared him, especially stealing his trophies."
"Good."
Sara added after studying the scan, "but there are still 5 or 6 artillery pieces unaccounted for, if Pivlic's manifest is correct."
"Those are the ones that should worry the Ordruun," Razia mentioned.
"I'd be more worried by the weapons that we don't know about, like what happened to the other ordnance the Z-17's were carrying. Right now there are exactly 3 places on the planet somewhat immune to antimatter weapons and Centerfort isn't one of them," I mentioned. The impulse reactor and shield system hadn't even been ordered, considering the trouble with the installation here at Sunhome. A 4-story temple and the four observation posts had to be re-purposed, and running the plasma conduit and keeping it from leaking is an ongoing nightmare. Sunhome was not designed to run plasma conduits through! And of course, convincing the Izzet to cut straight-line paths, and to rework the barracks around them would not make sense, so we had to kick them out and bring in a team from Wa-Lu. The new vertical shafts will be easy to make – I'll just get Nergat to make them! As soon as we iron out Sunhome's shields we will retrofit Centerfort. Edana will have to keep the Edison's reactors hot, and keep using the quarters onboard.
As I walked through the ship, I came about a pile of burnt feathers, just outside the Jeffries tube to the warp drive. The first thing I did was to call Toki.
"Captain to sickbay," I announced into my communicator.
"Caladea is fine," Toki replied. "She just got 'zorched' by the plasma field and lost quite a few feathers. They'll grow back. Caladea will just have to look like a chicken until then…"
Uh oh. I could see the ribbing that was about to commence…
I ordered my crew to be on their professional best when dealing with injured angels. Since they were bonded, the mortals had a vested interest in making sure their angels weren't offended. Something about being slapped silly by your mate for being offensive to their sister…
And since Parna was Caladea's mate I wasn't too worried. Parna was as protective as I was about his angel. I walked into sickbay …
… And man, Caladea did look like a plucked chicken – at least her upper left wing did.
"What did I say about not walking into the engines when they are running?"
"I didn't think I was that close to it!" She exclaimed. "This will take weeks to grow back!"
I was more worried about the burns in the wing-flesh. Then Parna entered sickbay, and came to a dead stop when he saw Caladea. He embraced her gingerly.
"I'm not made out of glass you know!"
"But … doesn't that hurt?" Parna had to ask.
"It burns a little, but that won't stop us," Caladea replied, while giving Parna a huge smooch.
"Yup, she's fine," I said to no one in particular. Caladea heard, and just gave me a wink...
It was a fine day on Ravnica's oceans. The Enola Gay was slicing through the waters of the deep. Both Sara and Razia looked absolutely stunning in bikinis. Their wings were free and both angels enjoyed the rather elemental experience of sailing a yacht on the open seas. We were about three days out of port, and in deep waters. The scanners promised fair weather, and we were just enjoying the elemental feel of the water under the keel, and the air passing through our sails (and their wings). And this time, I had left explicit instructions that we were NOT to be bothered unless Sunhome itself was attacked. I still had the song playing, "It's 8:15, and that's the time that it's always been. We got your message on the radio, conditions normal and you're coming home." This time both angels knew the meaning of the song and appreciated it for it's worth. We embraced each other while the stars revealed themselves "one star at a time" and the evening was quiet. My pair of angels, Sara and Razia, made sure that this evening was one that I wouldn't forget…
I woke up alone in the cabin. That is rather unusual these days! I stepped out of the cabin to find myself alone on the boat. I returned to the cabin and picked up a phaser, communicator, and my trusty tricorder. I left the cabin again and did a horizon to horizon visual scan before starting a scan with the tricorder. I then called the Parhelion. Caladea was on the bridge, and took the call.
"Caladea! Can you locate Sara and Razia? They're not on board!" I exclaimed.
She had picked up on the tone of my voice. "Running the scans myself!" Caladea replied.
"OK, they are about 15 kilometers out and 10 up … and they are running from … a sky swallower!" Caladea exclaimed.
"Beam then to this ship," I ordered.
There was a couple of flashes in the sky, the there were two flashes in the sky about 100 meters from the boat. Both Sara and Razia were moving too fast to avoid the water. Both of them splashed down beside the Enola Gay and surfaced a moment later. You wouldn't believe how much a water soaked angel weighed when you were pulling them out of the water! It took a minute to pluck angels out of the water with their water soaked wings.
Now about that sky swallower. The Enola Gay sported both a structural integrity field as well as a deflector shield. The armament was, however, a mark-42 phaser rifle and grenade launcher. In about 5 minutes we were about to find out how tough a sky swallower really is. It was still closing on the ship as the angels pointed out that it was the toughest creature on this planet.
So.
I didn't care. I had the firepower to deal with anything even if I only carried a mark 42 with grenade launcher. But then again, a good plasma grenade would take out any creature less than 250 meters in length – about the size of a sky swallower. And if that wasn't enough, I had a secret weapon in my stash of grenades …
Boom – boom. Two grenades and the sky swallower became bits and pieces of flesh raining down on the ocean.
"OK, what other critters inhabit this planet, and what do I need to know about them?" I asked of Razia.
"Grozoth and autochthon wurm come to mind," She looked embarrassed. "Normally there isn't anything that we can't deal with except a sky swallower, or the Simic version! But what if those plasma grenades didn't work?"
I held up another grenade. "Read this puppy!" I exclaimed. The grenade read: Grenade – antimatter – 5 KT. Minimum ranges – 1 km.
"Ouch. That's bigger than my purification spell," Razia stated.
"Yup. And in case you're wondering, the form factor for grenades has been the 12 gauge shot shell for the last two millennium," I explained. "Speaking of your spell, why didn't you just nuke the thing?"
Razia held up the diminutive grenade. "I couldn't! There's no land out here to draw enough mana from to cast such a powerful spell. I never really spent time on the ocean before your arrival. It's almost as mana-less as Agyrem"
"Besides, what in the world made you leave me this morning?" I queried.
"We just had an early morning fly!" Sara responded.
"We didn't expect to be chased around the planet by a sky swallower!" Razia interjected. "We expected to be back before you woke up!"
"But thanks for that rescue," Sara chimed in with. "That creature is BIG, and mean!" Sara looked at Razia.
"Hey! There are not that many sky-swallowers around! Why this one decided to pick on us angels …" Razia responded with.
"How about it was trained to attack angels when encountered," I replied. "You never know who had access to such a creature, and I trust no one!" I finally responded with.
"You don't think …"
"Unfortunately I do!' I responded with.
"But he wouldn't …" Razia trailed off.
"Wanna bet? I won't give up on Szadek until either he or I am pushing up daisies!"
Razia just gave me a hug. Then Sara joined the embrace. "Right. You're almost as devious as Szadek. If you keep being our shields, then he won't be able to take out the angels…"
"That's the point! Did I mention-"
"Nobody gets one of your angels," both Razia and Sara finished.
"Nobody!
