Five
Pretoria Research and Training Base
Planet Val-kyre
10 August 2017
The costumer made some minute adjustments to the new outfit the Sorceress was going to wear as the Cobra's bounty hunting companion, and stepped back. "How does that feel?"
Sorceress looked herself up and down in the full-length mirror. Silver boots with solid heels instead of separate spikes for better stability reached up to mid-thigh. Silver cups pointed at the bottom ends protected the shoulders. Metal lightning bolt effects stretched across the tops of her breasts with an exaggerated diamond piece centered on the sternum. A silver panel wrapped around from the back to cross under the ribs and end in a point on the lower belly. Three more stretched diamonds were set in this band. The silver was offset by a tight-fitting blue jumpsuit that left the upper chest bare. The base color of the costume was the same shade of blue as the beak of the falcon head dress.
"It feels like a second skin," Sorceress finally admitted.
"That's good. Now for the cape.
The cape was the same shade of blue. It was one piece that had to be pulled on over her head and settled about her shoulders with the hood down for the moment. The cape stretched down to the ankles and flowed almost with a life of its own. The costumer showed the Sorceress how to set the garment in place so that the material stayed in place across the shoulders, since there was not enough of it to enclose her shapely body.
Sorceress appraised the addition. She hardly recognized herself. Since arriving on Earth over two years ago, she had toned her muscles and developed a more athletic body. The Sorceress was less top heavy as a result, but that pleased her. She nodded her pleasure at the look.
The costumer raised the hood and set it in place on the crown of the head. It had enough volume that it would obscure the wearer's features if pulled fully down. The woman turned to the only male in the room sitting in a shadowed corner. "What do you think?"
Several witty remarks sprang immediately to mind, but Adrian refrained. Barely. He rose from the stool and stepped into the pool of light. He was already dressed as the one-eyed bounty hunter the Val-kyrie had eliminated for Adrian to take his place. Dressed all in black from leather pants to cotton shirt, heavy duty boots with built-in armor, and a gun belt with an attached holster strapped to each thigh; Adrian cut a near spitting image of the real man down to the dark hair and goatee.
The Sorceress didn't shrink away from his gaze as he looked her carefully up and down. While she would have felt like she was being sized up under a lecherous gaze from almost any other man, Adrian never looked at her in that way. She also sensed that there was something missing from the makeover.
Finally, Adrian snapped his fingers. "Red highlights. Put red highlights in your hair from the tips to maybe a third of the way up."
Sorceress closed her eyes, visualized the change and tapped into the planes of magic generated by all living beings in the universe to make it happen.
Adrian smiled. "Now the image is complete."
Sorceress turned back to the mirror and agreed with his assessment.
The door opened and the sentry posted outside poked her head in long enough to announce the imminent arrival of Colonel Markson. Adrian faded back into the shadows and stood extremely still as the door opened again to admit the colonel.
Markson pulled up short in the doorway when greeted with the sight of the two women. "I'm sorry. I was told Adrian and the Sorceress were here getting dressed for their mission."
Sorceress opened her mouth to reply, but the costumer beat her to it. "They just left. I believe they were headed for the flight line to watch the new starship being brought for them."
"Oh…uh… Okay." The colonel took one more lasting look at the Sorceress and departed.
The three waited a few moments to make sure the colonel wouldn't suddenly return, and then burst out laughing.
"That was evil," Sorceress said, wiping tears from her eyes.
"But we now know that the make-over was effective," Adrian replied. "Besides, you enjoyed that." He picked up a duster-style coat and shrugged it on. Another costumer materialized from somewhere in the darkened fitting room and handed Adrian the shoulder harness he had requested. It would allow him to wear one of his two auto-pistols under the left arm, with pouches for two spare clips nestled under the right arm. He thanked the woman and stuffed the bundle into a deep coat pocket.
"Ancients help me," Sorceress sighed, "but, yes, I did."
"We'd better go before the colonel gets suspicious and comes back."
Adrian swept out of the room as the lights came up. Sorceress looked around at the dress forms, sewing machines, drawing boards, and the expansive rack containing bolts of fabric and briefly fantasized about what could be made here. She shook off her reverie and followed her friend out into the corridor.
Commander Harana was waiting for her outside the building. Adrian was already on his way to the flight line in another vehicle so that Harana could have a moment alone with the Sorceress. They climbed into the open-air cockpit. Harana engaged the engine and sped off.
"That look suits you. No one would recognize you," Harana commented.
Not even my own daughter, Sorceress thought. "We had a successful test on the colonel."
"Yes. He's searching for you out on the ramp. He'll be mad when he finds out," Harana said. Silence followed for a time as she drove through the checkpoint accessing the flight line at the southern end of the base where her command – the research and development part – lay in a massive multi-level underground installation. The rest of the facility to the west was devoted to training new pilots. "Have you ever thought about the future?"
The Sorceress' head snapped around. "What do you mean by that?"
"It's a simple enough question. I think about it all the time. While commanding the research and development installation has been fulfilling, to say nothing of upgrading and re-equipping the Guardians in my lifetime, I find it isn't enough." Harana paused to consider how to broach the subject she was leading up to and decided to be a typical Val-kyrie and just say it. "When you find that special someone you have to grab on tight with both hands and don't let go. Sometimes they appear where you least expect them to be. Or who you would expect. Do you understand?"
Sorceress nodded. "But how will I know? I mean really know?"
Harana made an offhand gesture. "Oh, the heart knows these things. You just have to listen to it." She slowed the vehicle to a halt behind and to the left of the starship Eternia. It seemed that the entire crew was gathered in the shadow under the great ship, waiting for the new Ladyhawke to arrive. She spotted Colonel Markson, General Hammond and Captain Majourny standing apart from the rest of the crew. Adrian was just walking up to the group.
Harana and the Sorceress exited the vehicle and strode across the permacrete toward the small group. Nodding toward Adrian, Harana said, "Don't let that one get away. Someone may steal him when you aren't looking."
The Sorceress' mouth dropped open, but nothing came out. Instead, she clamped her mouth shut and made sure the hood remained in place.
The day was bright and sunny with hardly a cloud in the sky. There only a slight breeze to speak of. A perfect day for flying.
Colonel Markson noticed the newcomers first. He squinted at woman he had seen earlier. "Sorceress?" he asked slowly. When she nodded, he bellowed, "Ass-HOLE!"
Everyone chuckled at his expense.
"We needed a test and you just happened to the unlucky one," Adrian said, grinning. "You have to admit; this new look is effective."
"If the Horde uses facial recognition on her now, they will never match her up as the Sorceress of Grayskull," Harana added.
"I know. I know. We took a risk getting that mission launched, but we really still need this bounty hunter gig?"
"I still think it could be useful," Hammond said. "I know Adrian hates the longer hair and goatee, but making an alliance with Boss Nash could prove useful."
"Yeah, but for whom?"
"We'll see."
"I kinda like the goatee," the Sorceress said absently.
"What was that?" Adrian and Jo-jo said together.
The Sorceress' cheeks reddened in embarrassment. "Uh, nothing."
"Nash isn't stupid. Aside from being almost respectable and never dealing in drugs, slavery and any of the nasty stuff the other crime families engage in, he's the most likely one to figure out Adrian is not the real Cobra. And he is the most likely to keep the secret," Harana explained, hastily changing the subject.
Markson snorted. "For a price. There's always a price with those people."
"True," Harana conceded. "But his prices have always been reasonable, which is why my people are willing to deal with him. And he has helped us out on many occasions."
"It's coming," Jo-jo spoke up, pointing.
They were facing to the east with the base spread out behind them. A speck to the north steadily grew as the new starship approached on line with the runway. It grew steadily until the gathering of people could finally make out the sleek lines and powerful engines of the craft. Not much else could be seen as the starship streaked by at high speed. The shockwave of sound blew across the tarmac a second or two in its wake.
Commander Harana pulled a comm link from a pocket. "Nice entrance. Now come about and fly by again. Low and slow."
The pilot brought the starship around and soared by as instructed.
The new Ladyhawke measured a little over one hundred meters long. Three engines were mounted on reinforced pylons backed up by arching structural spans between them. Early testing of the new zero-point energy generator, enhanced inertia dampening and structural integrity systems produced a combat craft that exceeded the capabilities of even the best crew the Val-kyre had to offer. The reinforcements to the engine pylons came about because the advanced maneuvering system placed enormous stress on those areas. As a result, the ZPM core at the aft end of the hull, the pylons, and support arches were all made from precious Etherium alloy, as it was the only substance that could take the strain of extreme maneuvering even in space. Wing-like pods on the sides flared out wide at the front and tapered back to the diamond-shaped section forward of the engineering space. Blue panels at the front concealed the twin plasma blasters, one per side, along with a torpedo launcher on each side. Amidships on the sides were three square panels with the defensive batteries of anti-torpedo and anti-missile launchers.
"She's the fastest, most maneuverable ship in existence for her class," Harana explained as the pilot brought the starship around for landing. "Originally, this class was designed as a kind of fast cruiser with the comparable firepower of a battle cruiser. However, with the advances made for the battlestar design, she was consigned to the scrapyard. About thirty years ago, she was recovered, refurbished and began a new life as a series of continuously upgraded testbeds to experiment with new systems and the latest advances to ensure that system upgrades would work and play well with others."
Harana gestured to the starship touching down on quad landing struts and rolling sedately down the runway. "This is the latest generation built from the spaceframe up to be a sort of special missions craft. She requires only a crew of four, but can be operated effectively with a crew of two and the onboard computer. With our current advances in weapons and maneuvering systems, and in the hands of the right crew, this ship likely can take on a battleship and either cripple or kill it. Battle cruisers will be no match for her."
"Can't wait to get acquainted," Adrian said, beaming.
The Sorceress carefully guarded her emotions, but she, too, was looking forward to seeing what the ship could do. She frowned at the that disturbing line of thought. After years of observing the passage of events from the relative safety of Castle Grayskull, her new role as operator of one of the legendary Guardian battlesuits and fighting on the frontlines still took some getting used to.
"There's just one thing," Harana cautioned.
Adrian frowned. "Here it comes," he muttered, remembering the Queen Mother's comments about this gift.
"The ship's AI is a little eccentric."
"You don't say," the Sorceress replied, soto voce.
"Compared to the six Guardians, how bad can it be?" Colonel Markson asked. He had heard the Guardian AIs were eccentric and sometimes prone to being smartasses; even Falcon got in a good shot from time to time, just like her operator.
"Well, we didn't have the heart to deactivate the AI after all the work that had gone into the programming, so…"
"So, you thought we might be able to tame the shrew," Adrian sighed.
Harana shrugged. "There wasn't time to construct a new one from scratch. The other test ships did not have one anywhere close to what you will need to make efficient use of that ship."
The new Ladyhawke pulled up along the left side the Eternia. After a few minutes idling, the engines shut down. There were two white sections on the belly. The aft one was a cargo bay with a railing system to move ordinance into the internal magazines via rounded structures running half the length of the ventral fuselage. A white panel on the forward part recessed and separated. A platform slowly lowered to the ground where a ramp extended. Two crewmembers left the platform and made a beeline straight for Commander Harana.
Seen up close, Adrian could see that the starship was as long the Eternia, but not as wide. Captain Majourny's command had been redesigned internally to handle four dropships, their twenty-eight man platoons, and all support material. Then there was the ship's crew numbering about one-hundred twenty. The Ladyhawke, by comparison, was overpowered and over gunned for its size.
Harana dismissed the flight crew and turned to Adrian and the Sorceress. "I'm officially turning the new starship Ladyhawke over to you," she said to Adrian. "As soon as you can, I would advise setting the passcode to lock out the systems when you aren't aboard. Currently, there isn't one." She clasped forearms with the pair – the Val-kyrie equivalent of a handshake on Earth – and returned to the ground vehicle and return to her command.
Adrian turned to General Hammond. "Any last thoughts, orders, or advice?"
"None that I can think of," Hammond said after a moment's thought. "Except for an ancient Egyptian prayer, I can't think of a thing that we haven't already discussed."
"Then we'll see you on Earth in a couple days."
The Sorceress waited until she and Captain Majourny were alone. "You have a few last thoughts?"
Jo-jo nodded. "If you two have dinner somewhere, it doesn't count."
"We plan to have a quiet dinner when we get back to Earth."
"Yes, well, we'll have to talk about this date of yours."
"It's dinner," the Sorceress insisted.
"It's a date, but we can argue about it later. You'd better go," Jo-jo said, making a shooing gesture, "before he leaves without you."
Sighing heavily, the Sorceress turned and walked across the tarmac to the platform where Adrian stood waiting. She did not understand the big deal about this dinner plan they had set up before they left on the mission to the penal planet. It had been made as a plan to have a reason to survive and return home. Home. When did she start thinking of Earth as her home instead of Eternia?
Colonel Markson waited at the Eternia's forward ramp for the general and Captain Majourny. "Are you sure this is a smoking hot idea?"
"Didn't you ask that when they were selected for the mission to the penal planet? I thought we settled this," Hammond said. "It's not like you to get stuck in a rut."
"You forget the four ex-wives, sir," Jo-jo put it in."
"I'm not stuck in a rut," Markson complained. "And it's three ex-wives. Not four."
"Let's get going. I must report to President Alexander as soon as we return. And I have a suspicion the World President is going to try once again to dictate what, where and how we operate," Hammond said, leading the way up the ramp.
Jo-jo remained behind to ensure all her crew had boarded the ship. She turned to look one last time at the new starship. The platform had retracted back into the forward loading bay and the hatch was closed. She looked across the tarmac to the new Ladyhawke gleaming in the morning sunlight. At first, she thought the overall color was red, but she now saw that it was more of a reddish orange. The exact same color at the feather cape of the Sorceress' costume. As her gaze swept the length of the hull, Jo-jo noticed that all the other colors of her costume – yellow, white, black and blue - were all represented. Coincidence? Jo-jo thought not. With a slight smile touching her lips, the captain turned and strode up the boarding ramp.
Adrian and the Sorceress boarded the loading platform. At a touch of the controls, the ramp retracted and the platform slowly rose into the belly of the starship. Once inside, the hull plates slide closed. The pair climbed a ladder at the aft end of the platform to the second deck that ran the length of the ship. This deck had the personal quarters for the usual crew of four, a tiny section that was laughingly called a sick bay, general storage compartments, armory, and access to the engineering space at the aft end of the ship. A short walk aft brought them to another ladder that led up to the first deck.
The pair emerged into a short corridor. Left led into bridge area while right took them into the galley, which could substitute for a conference room, lounge, and had other uses. They entered the bridge from the starboard aft quarter. The layout was just like the simulator with the addition of a hatch just behind the central control stations. This gave access to the electronics bay immediately below the bridge where the command and control systems, and the computer core, were located.
They deposited their coat and cape on the seat facing to starboard. Adrian climbed into the pilot's seat while the Sorceress took the forward station; navigator's seat. They began the preflight checks and powered up the systems. The wall panels came alive and displayed a wraparound image of the surroundings outside the ship.
"It's about time you showed," a feminine voice said. A cone-like device was mounted on the ceiling just forward of the navigation seat. The flat bottom faced the crew and had lit up like a meter at the same time the voice issued over a concealed speaker. "I was getting lonely after the last crew left."
"Are you the ship's computer?" the Sorceress asked.
"Well, of course I am," the AI replied, indignant. "Who else would I be? One of those obnoxious battlesuits sitting in my aft cargo hold?"
Brow furrowed in confusion, she said, "Obnoxious battlesuits?"
Adrian snorted. "War Wing and Falcon. Apparently, they don't approve of their accommodations." Addressing the visual marker, he asked, "And what name did the Val-kyrie give you?"
"I am Mirriam. I am the command and control AI assigned to prototype cruiser X-31. Operational name Ladyhawke," Mirriam responded, full of pride. "I am superior to those two currently stored in the cargo hold. A good place for them, I might add."
"You are hardly superior," Falcon retorted over the comm system. "We are very different, as War Wing and I have repeated tried to tell you."
"We are highly specialized in our respective functions, so comparisons are meaningless," War Wing injected.
A nice civil explanation from War Wing? Adrian made a note to call Ripley's Believe It or Not once they got back to Earth. He cut off any further debate before an AI civil war started. "You three can debate this later. Let's get ready to depart. Mirriam, if your pride isn't too bruised, would you please call the tower and request clearance to taxi and take-off?"
"If you insist. I thought your companion was the commander here. Pity. I'm not sure I can handle taking orders from a – male."
"Snarky, isn't she?"
"Yes. Now we know why the Queen Mother and Commander Harana refused to elaborate on the nature of the computer," Sorceress said, plotting the course for the planet Wayfarer.
"A trip down to the electronics trunk and a little fiddling with her higher brain functions will cure that," Adrian stated, looking over the status boards as more systems powered up.
"You would lobotomize me. Turn me into an emotionless servant," Mirriam protested.
"It's simple. Learn to live with your new crew; get lobotomized; or my companion takes Falcon's electromagnetic staff into the electronics trunk and starts playing around with your circuits to see how hardened they really are against EMP surges," Adrian explained, trying not to smile as he laid out the options for the recalcitrant AI.
After a long pause, Mirriam answered, "Oh, very well. I suppose it wouldn't kill me to try." A second later, "We have clearance to depart."
From the bridge of the Eternia, Jo-jo and her crew watched the cruiser pull out and cross in front of her ship. Her request to depart had been granted. Eternia was number two for takeoff behind the Ladyhawke.
General Hammond and Colonel Markson flanked the captain's chair. They marveled at the size of the starship even though it only took a crew of four to operate effectively. "That must be some ship to fly," Hammond commented as Ace taxied out behind the other ship.
"I'd love to take her for a spin," Ace said, wistfully.
"That starship has been entrusted to the care of Adrian and the Sorceress. Per my agreement with the Queen Mother, absolutely no one else is to go near that ship," Hammond reminded him.
Crestfallen, Ace turned back to his controls. As he slowed to a stop near the southern end of the runway, Ladyhawke's engines throttled up to full power. Exhaust flame almost fifty feet in length blazed from the nozzles. The brakes were released and the starship practically leaped down the runway. After covering a quarter of the distance, the starship nosed up slightly to break contact with the ground. The landing struts retracted; the wells sealed by blue panels. As the ship approached the far end, the nose suddenly canted up hard. After crossing one thousand feet in height, the engines throttle up and blasted the Ladyhawke skyward. Adrian threw the starship into a corkscrew as it rose out of sight on three slowly dispersing plumes of white smoke. The tower called with permission for Eternia to pull onto the runway and takeoff.
As Ace lined up on the runway, Jo-jo said, "Ace, make it a nice normal takeoff."
"But captain -" Ace protested.
"Ace, make it a normal takeoff or I'll have you flying cargo planes full of rubber dog shit out of Hong Kong for the next year!" Captain Majourny commanded sternly.
"Yes, captain," Ace sighed, throttling up the engines.
Markson leaned in to whisper to Jo-jo, "Nice Top Gun reference."
"Thanks," she whispered back out of the corner of her mouth.
Once in orbit, Eternia cruised along waiting for the Ladyhawke to catch up. After several orbits, the other starship zoomed up alongside. The two ships soared in formation for a few seconds before the Ladyhawke fired the bow thrusters on the port side. Four jets of misty flame pushed the nose to point out toward open space. The main engines throttled up and the great ship broke orbit. Eternia followed moments later taking a parallel course. The orbital controller directed both ships onto the course for the designated section of the defensive perimeter that they were to pass through on their way out of the solar system.
Forward of the helm and navigation station was a large rectangular screen that could display whatever information the captain required. The expansive sloping canopy could offer breathtaking views of whatever was immediately outside the ship; however, it took the powerful sensor suite to bring up the arrays of dockyards floating in space out beyond the planet's gravity well. Immense warships were docked in most of the bays. Even though the crew had spent time on board on of those vessels returning from their last mission, Jo-jo still couldn't help but be awed by the size and power of the Val-kyrie capital ships called battlestars.
Each warship was a small fleet unto itself. It sported ten primary cannons for capital ship battles, could field three hundred Bladewing starfighters, perform orbital bombardments and land a sizeable army for ground operations. Defensive arrays were set up in three levels using flak batteries, railguns and plasma projectors. The design really lived up to its name because no matter what direction an enemy approached from, including the vulnerable stern, over one hundred weapons could be focused on the enemy. Four forward torpedo launchers and two aft launchers rounded out the incredible firepower. To date, only one Horde vessel had survived battle with the Mark Twenty battlestar. The battleship Hoscar, under the command of Captain Dragnar and flagship of General Rongar's Fifth Fleet, made it through the engagement, but was so badly wrecked as to be unsalvageable. No one knew whether anyone had survived, but Val-kyrie intelligence was diligently working on finding out.
A window opened in the upper left corner of the screen. The image of the Ladyhawke's bridge appeared as viewed from the port side. The eyepatch covering Adrian's left eye, long dark brown hair, and full goatee gave him a sinister air. Even though they knew the woman seated in the foreground was the Sorceress, the change in appearance was so complete that she could have been someone else.
Adrian glanced toward the unseen camera. "About time you showed up. What took you?"
"Not all of us can be showoffs," Conner 'Ace' McCloud replied neutrally.
"Threatened you with the cargo runs of rubber dog shit, huh?" Adrian chuckled. "Looks like the Logoss is finally getting repair underway."
"I don't think Commander Fontaine will be available for our next mission," Jo-jo replied.
Fontaine's command was the one that had been available for support when the Guardian Force infiltrated the Horde penal planet called Hel to liberate He-man, She-ra and any other survivors who wanted off the planet. Logoss had been damaged in a confrontation with a Horde battleship. The damage had been minor; however, it had been done to the delicately balanced heat sink system that cooled the hyperdrive while it was in operation. The journey back from the edge of Val-kyrie-controlled space had taken eight days when the trip normally takes no more than two because the ship had to travel in hops to give the drive time to cool between legs. The battlestar dropped out of hyperspace on the edge of the home system just as the hyperdrive failed.
"I'm sure they have other capable commanders who can support us, if needed," Adrian replied, confidently. "Any last thoughts, general?"
Hammond shook his head. "Except for an ancient Egyptian prayer, I think we covered everything."
The starships passed through the defensive ring without incident. Each turned on a course for their respective destinations and roared off under full power.
"Well, we'll see you back on Earth in a couple days, then," Adrian said.
"Stay out of trouble until we get back," the Sorceress added.
Unable to resist a parting shot, Adrian added, "And for God's sake watch your back!" The window disappeared as the connection was closed before anyone could reply.
Colonel Markson hung his head and sighed. "That's not going away any time soon."
"Well you did have to shoot him in the back," Hammond reminded him.
"He told me if they every went rogue to use all means necessary to stop them."
Jo-jo looked thoughtful. "As I understand it, stabbing Corporal Frost with the low power saber was an act he meant for you."
"So, what? I should let him stab me with one in the back to even the score?" the colonel demanded.
"Well, I'm sure it would be a start."
"Relax, Jon," General Hammond said, soothingly. "I'm sure he'll let you live it down. Eventually."
When both starships were safely beyond the fourth planet in the system, and above the ecliptic, energy clouds formed in front of them. With tendrils reaching out, both shot through into hyperspace.
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