Fifteen
Planet Etheria
2 September 2017
Final preparations for departure were underway when an urgent call was received by Mirriam. It came in on a prearranged channel reserved for communiques from only one source. Boss Nash. Adrian Cobretti dashed off to the Ladyhawke, scrambled up the extension ladder that extended and retracted along with the loading platform, and quickly made his way up to the cockpit. The call did not last long. Only a few minutes. Adrian returned at a much more leisurely pace.
Colonel Markson and Captain Majourny were waiting for him on the hangar deck. Adrian filled them in on the report from Boss Nash. One of his freighters had returned from a run into the Etherian star system. The crew had been ordered to follow a specific course to and from the planet, using autopilot the entire way. While a freighter's sensors were not very powerful, or capable of making detailed scans of an area, the crew was able to mark the presence of several destroyers and a battlecruiser or two. The captain did note that the course was carefully plotted to keep all traffic away from the area of the sixth planet in the system. The freighter's captain could not be certain, but he had a gut feeling that something was being hidden out in that area.
Captain Majourny promised to relay the information to the Defiant's bridge. Commander Mundu would need to know where to focus her forces since she planned to take out all the Horde warships in the system.
The Sorceress walked up once the pair had moved off in the direction of the Eternia. As she and Adrain watched, He-man, She-ra, Queen Angella, Glimmer and Peekablue were escorted to the starship.
"Having second thoughts?" Adrian inquired. He had seen the flicker of looks He-man and She-ra cast in the Sorceress' direction.
"About them?" she finally said, after a long pause. "No. About flying the Ladyhawke, yes."
Adrian faced her. "Look. That last run in the simulator doesn't count." He held up a hand to stall her protest. "Remember. That was an unscheduled run. The techs didn't load out our flight data from all the work we did learning to fly this beast." He gestured to the ship looming over them. "So, it was like day one all over again."
Sorceress let that sink in. She had been doing well, there before that last run. While Cirandar, Falcon's former operator, had been a skilled navigator, her piloting did not compare to War Wing's former operator, Kragor.
"You can do this," Adrian insisted. "Mirriam will be doing most of the work. All you really have to do is ride herd on her."
"She will be happy to have a female at her controls for once," she conceded.
"She'll be even happier once she gets the chance to blow something up," Adrian grinned. "See you on the planet."
Sorceress watched as he walked toward the other starship. She stepped on to the platform and punched the button to raise it into the forward cargo bay. When all this first started after the recovery of the battlesuits, all six of them had had trouble integrating the memories of the former operators into their own. The original operators had been careful about what they allowed to be downloaded into the battlesuits; their engrams had been used to allow each suit to develop a sentient AI that would be capable of completing what had been started. Other engrams had been created, using only knowledge and skills to be passed on to the next operator.
Sorceress remembered how uncertain the others had been, except for Adrian. He had not shown it, but the inherited knowledge, skills and the ability to shape-change scared him; according to the official record, Kragor had not had such abilities. Her theory was that all beings would exhibit certain abilities, from mental to physical, if sufficiently evolved. The symbiosis between Adrian and War Wing seemed to have brought out such a change in him. The others were still coming to grips with the knowledge and abilities inherited from their respective suits.
Marteen, operator of Blitzkrieg, had been a sharpshooter of exceptional skill. Torin, operator of Claw, had specialized in close-quarters combat; he had been deadly with the suit's namesake claw extensions. Neeva was a genius when it came to anything technological. Her suit – Hawk – had been designed around infiltration and breaking into virtually any computer system of the time. Atrios was another brawler who was well suited for Gatling Arm. He could pound an enemy into the dirt with the twin Gatling gun pods, or move in close with bladed weapons that could be materialized attached to the forearms and cleave his way through enemy troops. Cirandar had still been learning her way around the magical augmentation systems of Falcon as the time neared where the battlesuits had to be interred behind magical barriers for the future. Of the six Guardian operators, she had been the only known survivor. She had gone off to Eternia to become the new guardian of Castle Grayskull. However, the Sorceress could find no other information about the woman, which was strange.
For the Sorceress, commanding the abilities of Falcon was far easier than for Cirandar. The danger lay in how easy it would be to abuse such power. Being essentially confined to Castle Grayskull had lessened the temptation, but now that she was out in the galaxy fighting alongside her companions from Earth, that temptation was much more seductive than ever. Not only would she have to keep a close watch on the others, she would have to be mindful of her own weaknesses. She didn't show it, her position hadn't allowed it, but the Sorceress had the same concerns, regrets, fears, loves, and so on that beings all over the galaxy had. Most people did not know this about the Sorceresses of Grayskull; the person wearing the mantel generally did not reveal her personal history. So, it was easy to overlook what a hard life it really was to exist in the castle, observing history while seldom interacting with historic events.
The lift platform bumping to a halt jostled the Sorceress out of her ruminations. She snapped back to the here and now and got back to business. Sorceress clambered up the ladder to the main corridor running the length of the ship; a second ladder aft of the one she had just used led to the upper deck where the cockpit and lounge were located.
All the systems came alive as she stepped into the cockpit. The aft sensor stations facing to port and starboard would not be used on this trip. While all four stations were specialized, each one could be reconfigured serve as a navigation station or pilot station when required. Sorceress climbed into the pilot's station set in front of the side-facing chairs; the front station was for navigation and monitoring of the ship's status. Her normal position.
"Finally. A female at the controls," Mirriam beamed. Was that a touch of smugness in her voice?
"Don't get used to it. This is only temporary. Now fire up the systems and prepare for launch."
"Oh, poo," Mirriam pouted.
When the main systems failed to come online, Sorceress repeated her order.
"I heard you the first time, but you have to input the release code for system startup. Remember, you and Adrian agreed to this."
Sorceress cursed herself for being sidetracked. She had to think a moment to call up the phrase Adrian had suggested. Something from a novel series he talked about once. Finally, she said, "Live large and stay hard."
"Release code acknowledged," Mirriam replied, all business. "Main systems powering up."
Sorceress got so immersed in the preflight checklist that she never noticed the tug and tow bar getting hooked up to the forward landing struts. Or that the starship had been towed into launch position. It wasn't until the core command advised the time until launch that the Sorceress realized how engrossed she had been trying to keep her thoughts from straying. She acknowledged the five-minute warning.
The lights dimmed by half for a normal flight ops. Sorceress strapped into the four-point harness with less than two minutes to go. Ladyhawke hummed and vibrated with power; it was as if the starship was itching to roar out of the landing bay and soar among the stars. Sorceress knew how the ship felt; in the past, she had enjoyed soaring through the Eternian skies as Zoar the Falcon. With the wraparound wall screen the cockpit was equipped with, flying through space had almost the same feeling.
The tugs disconnected from the Ladyhawke and Eternia and withdrew to the forward part of the bay. Force field emitters glowed a bright white, marking their locations along the side bulkheads and ceiling. A shimmering curtain of energy cut off the aft half of the landing bay from the forward to prevent the engine blast from cause inadvertent damage elsewhere in the bay. When all was secured for launch, the deck officer relayed the status to the bridge.
"Core command to Ladyhawke. You are cleared for launch. Launch when ready," the launch officer announced.
Sorceress acknowledged, smoothly sliding the throttles forward with her left hand while depressing the foot pedals down to keep the brakes engaged. When the engines stabilized at maximum power, she mashed the thumb button on the side on the throttle handle.
The engine roar in the bay turned into a deep-throated howl when the afterburners lit off. The starship strained against the applied brakes for release, nose dropping slightly toward the deck. Then brakes released, the starship practically leaping down the bay toward the rectangular patch of blackness at the end. In moments the atmosphere in the bay quieted down to the idling hum of the Eternia's engines.
As with the Ladyhawke, Ace held the brakes while the engines throttled up. The starship roared down the bay, afterburners blazing. Once clear of the bay, Ace turned to starboard away from the battlestar. The starships formed up ten thousand kilometers off the Defiant's aft port quarter and aligned toward the distant planet Etheria. Characteristic energy clouds formed in front of them when the hyperdrives engaged. Tendrils reached out for the ships as both shot through the clouds into hyperspace. The clouds dissipated seconds later.
Andre looked up at the stars and wondered for the thousandth time what wonders lay among those bright points of light. She often dreamed of one day leaving Etheria and travel to all the planets she could. There were several obstacles to that plan: She did not have a starship. She did not know how to pilot said starship. She did not know how to navigate in space. And lastly, Andre was only eleven years old. That did not stop her from dreaming big, however.
Her most important dream was that the monsters trying to rule all of Etheria suddenly packed up and went away. Not a likely scenario, but it helped her to get through each day.
The village she lived in had no name. It lay between the major town of Thaymor to the west and the Singing River to the east. The building was not the best compared to those in Thaymor, but it was home. Living near the equator meant the seasons did not hit the extremes of other locations. Even so, evenings could be a little chilly. Like tonight. A fire blazed on the hearth inside, but Andre needed to keep up her nightly ritual of looking up at the stars providing the weather cooperated. Lighting around the shanty town was meager at best, with pools of light streaming from the doors and windows of the occupied homes. Perfect for sitting out on the front stoop and stare up at the night sky.
"Andre? Andre?" her grandmother called. "Dinner is almost ready. Come inside before you get your death of chill." An old woman shuffled out onto the stoop, a shawl wrapped around her shoulders to ward off the chill night air. "Dreaming of flying among the stars again?"
The girl looked back over her shoulder, then turned back to the star-filled sky. "Uh, huh."
Sighing, the old woman grunted as she sat down next to the girl. "Still wishing the evil monsters would just go away," she said, more as a statement. "If only it were that easy, child."
"I hate them," Andre spat with unusual vehemence for one so young. Her features softened as turned to look at her grandmother. "Do you think there are really good monsters out there?"
Grandma knew what Andre meant by 'out there.' They had had this conversation more times than either of them could count. "Of course, there are, dear. You can't have evil monsters without good ones. There must be a balance. It is a universal law."
Andre looked skeptical. "Name one."
"Moss Man," Grandma answered immediately.
"Another."
"The Quaedians."
They kept this up for another minute with Grandma always having an answer to her granddaughter's demands for another example. The debate always ended the same way with a balance between good and evil reached.
"Now, come inside and eat. Your mother has made us her usual outstanding stew."
Andre made a pained face, but quickly hid it before Grandma could scold her. Mother's cooking was terrible, although really, it just lacked spices to make it taste better. The small garden for growing vegetables and spices had been having issues this year. So, the meals suffered in quality, but Andre didn't really mind. Her mother labored hard to make the best of an unfortunate situation. The entire village did, after many of the men had been taken away by the Horde months ago leaving the remaining people to work that much harder to survive day to day doing the hunting, working the fields, and making repairs to the homes and stables.
It was a hard life, but where there was life there was hope.
Grandma forced herself to her feet, old joints creaking. "Come alone. Your supper will get cold."
Reluctantly, Andre got to her feet and followed Grandma inside. She paused at the door and looked up in the sky once more. Her heart leapt when she saw a shooting star soaring across the sky, south to north. Quickly, Andre squeezed her eyes shut and made a hasty wish. She wished that she would find a good monster to take the fight to the Horde.
Wish made, Andre stepped inside her home and closed the door.
Adrian Cobretti and Colonel Markson stood in the drop bay, staring at the line of battlesuits, while the platoons went about the tasks of weapons strip, weapons load and dropship prep.
"Are you sure she'll be all right?" the colonel asked, cautiously.
"Having doubts about the Sorceress' abilities?"
"Not at all. I just wonder about her leaving Falcon behind."
"I am wondering about that, too," the synthesized voice of Falcon issued from the portable monitoring station in front of the towering battlesuit.
Adrian looked up at the nearly five-meter-tall suit. "Well, you and War Wing haven't exactly hit it off with Mirriam. "She's going to search out a suitable landing site, not fight a pitched battle."
"But there will be a pitched battle or three in our future, I hope," Claw asked.
"You're weapons of war. What do you think?" Adrian said.
Ever since the six AIs got an extreme makeover courtesy of the Val-kyrie, they had been itching to try out their new systems and enhanced armor. The addition weapon designs stored in War Wing's memory banks had been copied into an external system so that their operators to could sift through them and decide on appropriate additions to each suit's arsenal.
"Is it my imagination," the colonel said, eying the suits critically, "or are they taller?" He caught Adrian staring hard at him. "What?"
"You have an imagination?"
"HA-HA," Markson scoffed.
Smiling, Adrian answered, "You aren't imagining it. Part of the rebuild included increasing their height by several feet. Originally, they were all around twelve feet tall. Give or take a few inches. Now they average fifteen feet. They are almost totally new battlesuits."
"Sweet," the colonel said, truly impressed. "And you kids are just dying to try out all the new bells and whistles."
Looking a little embarrassed, Adrian replied, "Well, I'd be lying if I said we weren't. Hordak apparently fears nothing and no one. I'd like to change that."
Markson grunted noncommittally. He had no doubt that if there was any one group that could put even a little fear into Hordak, it was these six people. The Fright Zone was going to be their greatest challenge yet. The Val-kyrie reported that Hordak tended to use prototype weapons systems in live tests when invading villages. If he liked the results, the design was handed off to an R&D outfit to put into production. The three types of combat drones they had already encountered were just one example; the six-legged walker machine with a top-mounted cannon Adrian had destroyed on a planet in the neutral zone between Horde space and Val-kyrie territory was another. Who knew what Hordak was going to throw at them? Whatever it was, it would be deadly, hard to kill and a learning experience.
The preparations for drop began winding down as the time approached for the drop out of hyperspace. Adrian went off the drive the new and improved war machine out of the aft vehicle bay, parking in front of dropship number one – the forward portside drop bay. The APC on loan from the Val-kyrie were positioned in front of the other three dropships, ready to back up the ramps into their drop bays. All ordinance had been loaded and secured for drop. Only personal weapons remained racked in the platoon ready areas at the forward part of the drop bay.
Adrian and the remaining Guardians crawled into the operators' compartments, sealed up the suits, and reconfigured the fifteen-foot tall battlesuits into the smaller powered armor combat forms.
When his faceplate popped open, Adrian found Corporal Frost watching them. "That's still the coolest thing I've even seen, man." It was no secret he would love to have a battlesuit of his own but had to settle for the occasional supporting role in support of the real things. They shared a fist bump before moving off to their respective duties.
Jake and Adrian climbed into the cockpit of the war machine. The gauntlets and bulky feet of their suits were further retracted to make it easier to operate the machine. It also gave them a little more room despite Gabe's team factoring in the size of the combat forms in such a confined space.
The other Guardians walked over to the respective dropships they would be leaving on. Sonya ducked into Beta Platoon's APC in the number four drop bay – starboard aft. Jeromy took Blitzkrieg over bay three – portside aft – to join Delta Platoon. Brad left the drop bay to join up with Captain Takamora and see what he could do to help secure the landing area once the Sorceress scouted out a suitable location.
With minutes to go until the return to normal space, the platoons got psyched up for the mission with the usual pre-mission chanting before scrambling from the open locker room. People dashed through the bay to form up in lines before their assigned APC and dropship. The doors on the right side of the massive vehicles popped outward and snapped apart. Personnel filed inside in short order. The doors snapped closed, and the drivers backed the machines up the ramps into the waiting dropships.
Adrian backed up into Lieutenant Feril's ship. The ramp rose into flight position cutting off the rising cacophony from four sets of engines powering up for the drop. He pressed down on the tops of the foot pedals to set the brakes and powered down the reactor.
Eternia dropped out of hyperspace right on target. The planet Etheria lay ahead and above the speeding starship. Ensign Comorov's calculations were meticulous and exact, bringing to reality Ace's idea of coming out of hyperspace below the equator, aiming for diagonal orbit that kept the starship out of the way the planetary gun and away from overflying Hordak's territory. The course also had the added benefit of having to make only one orbit after releasing the dropships, enter the atmosphere and land at whatever the site the Sorceress found for them. The idea was to get the platoons away, and then get down on the ground and powered down before any warships in the system could gain orbit and search for them.
Novina Satori manned the science station and was actively scanning for Horde warships the moment the static from exiting hyperspace cleared. "All scans negative for enemy warships. If they are in orbit behind the planet we should pick them up once we cross over the northern pole."
Captain Majourny nodded. Lieutenant Denton stood tensely at the tactical console behind and to the starboard of the captain's chair. He would not be able to relax until they got on the ground. Anything could go wrong until then.
Lieutenant Alexandra Callahan monitored the ship's computer systems and doubled as the communications specialist. "No contact from the Ladyhawke, captain. If she's here, she's running silent."
"The Sorceress wouldn't break radio silence unless there was an emergency," Jo-jo said. "I doubt we'll hear from her until we breach the upper atmosphere. With the cloaking device that ship is equipped with, she'll see us long before we see her."
On her left-hand console, Jo-jo watched the dropships being lowered into the release bays. Ensign Comorov counted down the minutes to release just as they had practiced numerous times. The computer took over at minus one minute to drop. Eternia rolled to make the slope of the planet the horizon. The tension mounted as the time to release drew close. As the numbers fell, the only thing that could abort the drop, besides a glitch that had been practiced, would be the appearance of Horde warships. So far, none had been detected.
The clock dropped to twenty seconds. The doors of all four drop bays opened. When the count reached zero, the release sequence executed. Bay 3 released first, followed closely by Bays 1 and 2. The staggered launches ensured that no ships collided as they maneuvered into the atmosphere. The repeater sensor displays on the captain's right-hand console showed the three craft forming up as they plunged toward the ground. Eternia soared on to the next release point that would drop Delta Platoon on a re-entry aimed at the northern pole, and Castle Chill. Once Number 4 dropship was on its way, Ace took control back from the computer and began re-entry maneuvers.
Ace approached the Singing River delta that emptied into the Growling Seas. Right on target. He followed the river north toward the Kingdom of Brightmoon. The massive dark shapes of Talon Mountain slipped away on the left. The impressive mountain formed the southeastern border of the Horde Occupation Zone. Mystacor formed the remainder of the border all the way up the Whispering Woods far to the north.
The tension on the bridge had abated somewhat with the release of the four dropships. A sudden Horde attack could still spoil their arrival, but, so far, the Horde appeared unaware of the Eternia's presence. It was more likely that Hordak knew of their activities and was not concerned.
The starship slowed in flight up the river as Castle Brightmoon would soon come into range. The last thing Jo-jo wanted was to get in the way of Colonel Markson's deployment to secure the seemingly abandoned castle or reveal the presence of Beta Platoon as it approached Mystacor. And there was still no word from the Sorceress. Ace brought the starship to hover over the river almost due east of the town of Thaymor.
After almost two minutes, a signal finally came in from the Ladyhawke. It was a simple homing beacon. The trail led to a sizeable clearing east of the Singing River. With the cloaking device engaged, there was no sign of the other starship. However, the signal pointed to the northwestern corner.
"That appears to be our parking spot," Jo-jo commented.
Ace spun the starship about and backed into the appointed place. A suitable canopy of thick branches and leaves stretched over an area large enough to accommodate the Eternia. Once they were firmly settled on the landing struts, all systems were powered down. In moments, the ship was switched over to silent running lest a stray power spike betray their position to an orbiting Horde warship Jo-jo knew would be on station soon, if it wasn't already.
"Well, there's something you don't see every day," Ace commented.
Jo-jo looked up and out the armored transparent window. Her mouth fell open at the shadowy shape parked a short distance away to south east of their location.
The Ladyhawke was indeed present. The cloaking device had more than one mode of operation. After scouting out the landing site, the Sorceress had set down, transmitted the homing beacon, and switched to a stealth mode of her own. To save power, the cloaking field had been reduced to covering only the dorsal side of the starship. While one could see the lower half from the ground, anything flying over the clearing, or scanning from orbit, would find nothing but the Eternia, which had no such device installed. The canopy of trees the Eternia currently sat under would serve as the next best thing.
Jo-jo sat back in her chair, smiling. "Clever girl." She gave Captain Takamora the go ahead to secure the area and set up the perimeter of sensors to guard against intruders the passive sensors of both starships might not pick up.
Now the worst part was upon Captain Majourny and her crew. Waiting to hear from the field teams. The waiting was always to worst part.
The Sorceress returned to the cockpit with a steaming cup of tea in hand. She slid into the seat of the starboard sensor station, which faced to that side. The lighting was subdued, as all systems were power down for silent running. Of course, that included shutting Mirriam down. The wraparound wall screen showed the outside environment, while the Sorceress focused her station on specific areas.
She listened to the soldiers scouting out the clearing grumble about the rain that had begun to fall. Sorceress wondered why it tended to rain whenever they started a mission, but no one could predict the weather.
It could be worse, boys, she thought, wryly. You could be the ones going to Castle Chill instead of Lieutenant Howard's Delta Platoon.
Another pair were discussing her, or, more accurately, living all nice a cozy in a castle with said structure all to herself. One thought that to be a very inviting idea. His companion pointed out the history the Sorceress had revealed to them about some of the more intense episodes where people tried to steal the secrets hidden within by any means necessary. No, living life alone in Castle Grayskull was not all sun and roses. Even she was not immune to loneliness. The pair drifted on along the perimeter continuing their debate.
The Sorceress switched to following the pairs setting up the motion detector spikes along the tree line. The group working the eastern edge paused under the Ladyhawke for a brief respite from the steady rainfall. A touch of a control let her monitor the comm traffic over Charlie Platoon's tac net. Nothing noteworthy there as squads continued their search of the area, so she turned down the volume. She leaned back, cupping the mug in her hands and sipped the steaming brew. One thing was for sure, the Earth people had some excellent flavors of tea. If there was one vice she had picked up on Earth, it was a good mug of tea.
A commotion on the wall display could her eye. Sitting up and taking a closer look, she saw a squad gathered around a ruined structure. Sorceress turned up the volume and switched to the panel display in front of her. Setting the mug aside, she adjusted the camera to zoom in on the object of interest.
"What is that?" Captain Takamora demanded from the Eternia's command center. "I'm not making that out too clearly."
"Structure of some kind," the soldier responded. "Appears burned. Probably caught fire."
"Reminds me of my grandpa's hunting cabin in the Ozark Mountains," another soldier mused.
That sparked a thought in the Sorceress. Her fingers tapped out commands on the keyboard. A window opened of the wall display before her. The shadowy image of the ruins was isolated as the computer began extrapolating what the structure could have been. The initial analysis was that what had happened, had taken place around six years ago. A white wire graph of potential objects was superimposed one by one over the image. After a few minutes of searching, the computer finally settled upon a likely graph. Sorceress stared at the image, tea forgotten as dread settled like a rock in the pit of her stomach.
"I think he's right, Hohiro," Sorceress said over their tac net. "The computer extrapolates a greater than ninety percent chance that the ruin was once a home."
More calls came in of other structures being discovered not only along the edges of the clear, but some were scattered about the center in an apparent grid fashion. The computer estimated that many of these were also possible homes.
Realization settled on the Sorceress, Captain Takamora and the searchers of the ruins. They had landed not in a clearing as had first been thought. The starships sat in what has once a thriving village. Something had destroyed it approximately six years ago. Or someone.
Hordak.
Probably as an example to others of the futility of resistance. So far, no corpses had been found. Hopefully, the people had been taken away before the village had been destroyed. If not, well, Hordak had a lot to answer for.
And it was high time he started making payments of the painful kind.
107