Five hours into the flight, a call came in from Alfea. The video screen showed Tecna on the other end.
"How are things going, Timmy?" asked the Fairy of Technology.
"Just fine, Tecna," he replied, "Ship's functioning well, and we're on course."
"Good to hear," she replied, smiling slightly. "Ms. Faragonda took us into her confidence on your real mission," said Tecna, "Just in case someone else needs to be sent after you. But I'm sure you can handle anything."
"We did have a slight change in plans, though," Timmy said.
"I guess that would be the presence of Zing," she said. "Jolly came to us and told us she was aboard, and why."
"Yeah, it was kinda surprising." he glanced around and said in a lower voice, "Lucy didn't like it at all.
She's really upset."
"That's odd. They've met before. I wonder why she would be upset," said Tecna.
"Because a Pixie is slow flying, attracts unwanted attention, and doesn't have much in the way of magic," came the voice of Lucy from behind Timmy. She leaned forward into the camera pickup so Tecna could see her. "I don't want to have to babysit a useless bug on this mission. The recon files show the planet is going to be bad enough. We don't need the extra stress."
"Just because YOU can't see it, it doesn't mean she's useless." said Jolly, flying in front of Tecna. "I sent her with you because she has a function for the mission. You will fail without her."
Lucy snorted. "Yeah, right."
Jolly put her hands on her hips. "Don't forget about the other side of that bargain. If Zing proves useful, she gets to punish YOU any way she wants to."
Lucy was taken aback. "How did you know about that? That was between me and her."
Jolly smiled and held up a card. On it was the symbol of the Trader.
Of course Lucy was familiar with cards as a fortune-telling device. At the sight of it, she visibly deflated.
"Not so sure of yourself now?" asked Jolly, smugly.
"It's none of your business anyway, bug," said Lucy with a lot of venom in her voice. She turned and stalked away to the galley.
Zing flew over to the monitor from whatever hidey-hole she'd found. "Did you mean that? She'd let me punish her? For real?"
Jolly nodded. "Lucy is dark, not evil. She will stick to the bargain, even if it goes against her. Which it will."
"Wow! This will be a first!" said Zing with excitement, "A Pixie getting to punish a Witch! I'll have to think about what to do to her."
Before Tecna, Timmy, or Jolly could warn her to be careful about it, Zing flew away and disappeared.
"Oh, dear," said Tecna, "I really wish you hadn't said that. I can predict without magic that trouble will follow this."
Jolly looked at her cards and frowned. "Let me check something," she said. She landed on a clear spot on Tecna's desk, and did a reading. Then she turned to Tecna with a worried expression.
"You're right, I shouldn't have said anything. The outcome is now in doubt, and I don't know what to do that will put it right again," said Jolly, sadly.
"That's okay, don't worry about it," interjected Timmy, "I prefer to rely on logic, skills, and equipment to finish a successful mission, rather than magic cards."
"Don't forget a good working relationship between ALL your teammates is essential," put in Tecna.
"Basic Heroics 101," said Timmy. "I'll remember."
wcwcwc
The dead planet Bekisan rolled slowly beneath the Red Fountain ship as it orbited a couple hundred miles away. It looked pretty much like any other habitable planet; blue, white, and green from this altitude. A bright yellow desert appeared on the horizon, and grew to take over the visible land area. Then it receded aft.
The unique team was clustered around the sensor console, watching the readings as they came in. Zing hovered as far from Lucy as possible, and still be able to see.
"So far, so good," said Timmy, "I haven't picked up any spacecraft with functioning power plants yet. Maybe we got here before the others."
"I hope so," commented Mirta, "I want to get in and out as quick as possible. Do we know where the guy lived?"
"Not specifically," answered Timmy, "All we've got is somewhere within a few miles of the largest city."
"Great, that really helps a lot," muttered Lucy.
"Well, maybe you can find some more clues to narrow it down. Grandaeus' assistant was off-planet when the attack came, and after he died a couple of years ago his papers were donated to a university. The computer has copies of all of them." He gestured at the main computer console.
Lucy looked annoyed, but went over, sat down at the console, and called up the files.
After another hour, the remains of the planet's largest city, Beki City, had been identified. The visual monitors showed the devastation had been very thorough. No isolated buildings could be found, though. The residual magic in the woods was distorting the sensors.
"I've got something," called Lucy from the computer, as she closed the files. She came back over to the sensor console. "I found a side note that said the house was due east from Beki City."
"Good work!" said Timmy. He called up the sensor records, and they looked at the area indicated with no luck. Either it was well-hidden, was completely destroyed, or the sensors were blocked. He selected the area and made several hard copies as maps.
"Now we have a good idea of where we're going. Put these in your equipment, so we'll all have one." Timmy handed out the hard copies. Zing used a bit of magic and shrunk hers down to a size she could use.
"Okay, let's get ready to land," said Timmy, "I've picked out a place due east from the city, but outside the dark-magic-affected area."
Just then there was a loud, metallic BLANG!! and the entire ship shook. Lucy and Mirta jumped to their side consoles as Timmy took the forward.
"Defensive screens up, weapons coming on-line," called Lucy.
"Minimal damage to the ship," said Mirta, "I think that was just to get our attention."
"But why didn't the sensors pick them up?" muttered Lucy as she studied the readouts.
"Ahoy the intruder!" called a voice from the comm monitor, "You are trespassing, and we're giving you one chance to clear out!"
"That voice is familiar!" thought Mirta, and looked toward the monitor. On it was a female face with light pink hair. She had a nasty grin directed at Timmy. "Inez!" she exclaimed, then slapped her hand over her mouth. She hadn't meant to say that out loud.
"Who was that I heard say my name?" asked the Witch. "Who knows me over there?"
Reluctantly Mirta went over so the vid pickup could see her. "Um... hi, Inez..."
"Oh, yeah, Mirta! I remember you! You traitor to all witchkind! You busted me on Linphea to save some brat." The Witch sat back in her chair. "Didn't expect to find YOU here! Now all my planning for revenge is ruined. Oh, well, you can't look a gift Fairy in the mouth." She looked at someone off-camera. "Zee! Blast 'em!"
Mirta tried to return to her console, but was thrown off her feet by a second blast. She struggled over and got into it. She tapped a button on the side of the chair and a seat belt slipped around her waist.
"The screens held," she called to Timmy, "No further damage."
"Acknowledged," responded Timmy. "Lucy, see if you can return fire while I try to set a course."
Lucy gave her own nasty grin. "You got it! Let's see how she likes this!" She lined up the other ship in the targeting monitor, but the lock was spoiled by a third shot that put the Red Fountain ship in a spin.
"We've got an energy leak in the secondary power plant! I'm shutting it down! Main and batteries left!" called Mirta, her fingers flying over the keyboard.
"Targeting computer down! I can't get a lock!" said Lucy, busy as well.
"Okay, I'm going to the surface! It's gonna be a rough trip, so be ready!" called Timmy, as he entered commands.
The ships gyros ended the spin, and the ship moved away from the other. The witch's ship took several more potshots at them, all of which missed.
As they left the other ship behind, Lucy said, "They are NOT going to get away with this scot-free!" She lined up the energy cannon with her best guess, and hit "FIRE". A yellow lance of energy left the ship, striking the witches craft on the underbelly. It burned a hole in the hull, and small explosions could be seen going off inside.
The communications monitor suddenly came to life again. Smoke filled the cabin around Inez, who was smudged with soot. "Blast you to the Omega Dimension!" raged the Witch, "I'll get you for this, Mirta!" The screen darkened.
"We're hitting the outer atmosphere," said Timmy a few minutes later. "If there aren't any tears in the hull, we should be okay."
"Uh, Timmy, what if there are?" asked Zing.
"Then the friction will burn us up," he replied.