THREE
Guardian Command
Area 51, Nevada, Earth
10 September 2017
The Sorceress gazed about the expansive throne room, taking in the guests gathered for the ball. There was a war on, but the Eternian people needed this as much as those fighting the war. Everyone was dressed in their finest, the ladies wearing extravagant gowns, some bordering on gaudy. The men's styles varied as well, depending upon who they accompanied. She and Adrian Cobretti stood out, their sober-hued outfits matching closely.
Sorceress wore the black and gray gown Adrian had had a dream about. A gown whose existence she had flatly denied. Adrian wore a tailored black outfit, complete with a matching gun belt, the gun itself left behind, as weapons had been banned. A uniquely simply design in gray adorned the collar of the shirt, while gray panels adorned the shoulders of the matching jacket.
The pair made a lovely couple as they circled through the room. Sorceress ignored the disapproving stare from her daughter, Teela. Clearly, she thought Adrian a bit young for her. Sorceress had sternly informed her agitated daughter that there was no one in the room even remotely close to her age. So what if Adrian was only a few years older than Teela? It made no difference to the Sorceress. Why should it matter to anyone else?
No one since Dannon had ever made the Sorceress feel the way that she did when she with Adrian. While the relationship had been developing for some time, the pair finally chose to acknowledge it only recently. Now, they would simply see where things went, now that it was out in the open.
At some point, the pair slipped out of the throne room, away from the forced pleasantries with people either of them would rather have taken out to someplace secluded, to stack down for the roving beasts. Away from the eyes of friends pleased to see the pair embracing what they had known for three years. Away from the bright lights, good food and drink and the orchestra playing quiet pieces from the varied races currently in attendance.
Adrian and the Sorceress stepped out into the cool evening air. A gentle breeze was blowing through the mild summer night. Together, they walked across the pavilion to the stone wall bordering the entire perimeter of the palace built atop a mountain whose upper half had been sheared off sometime in the distant past.
The view from the wall was stunning in daylight. Now, in the gathering gloom, there was just a sea of shadows. They faced each other, drawing into a close embrace. Lips parted and heart racing in anticipation, the Sorceress closed her eyes and –
-Snapped wide awake. She was not on Eternia; was lightyears away form that planet, in fact. She was laying on a bed in the base hospital. The entire crew of the starship Eternia was undergoing routine post-mission examinations; Doctor Susan Blanchard, Chief Medical Officer for the Guardian Command, reserved the right to examine whomever she chose. She had made the six Guardians her personal hobby of sorts. Susan was still working on the complex snake venom in the pint of the Sorceress' blood that had been taken months ago; it was proving quite the puzzle.
The normal battery of tests had been performed. Now, the six lay in beds awaiting the verdict; somewhere along the way, the Sorceress had dozed off. Self-consciously, Sorceress looked around, looking to see if anyone noticed her sudden start. No one had.
Doctor Susan Blanchard entered the room, clipboard in hand. Standing at five-foot-seven, she was a religious workout fanatic judging by her athletic build, with a touch of gray at her temples. "Good news. You have all been paroled from purgatory," she announced.
Jake and Jeremy hooted, jumping off their beds and heading for the door. Brad lingered to accompany Sonya. Only Adrian Cobretti and General Hammond knew of the potential trouble for Sonya's family back in Mother Russia, but the others had noticed something was wrong with her. Brad took it upon himself to be a friend even if she refused to talk.
Adrian reluctantly departed after the Sorceress nodded to him that she was all right.
"How is your work progressing on King Hiss' venom?" Sorceress asked when they were alone.
The doctor frowned. "It would go better with a pure sample rather than your contaminated blood."
"Don't say that to Adrian. He would be fool enough to attempt getting it for you."
"Don't think I haven't considered making a proposal to General Hammond."
"So, what's stopping you?"
"Adrian isn't the only one around here who would be fool enough to try getting it." Susan did not need to elaborate on exactly who she meant.
Susan looked the other woman over more thoroughly. While the test results were good, they only indicated the physical story. The mental portion was another, more complex matter.
"Are you all right?" She held up a warning finger when the Sorceress opened her mouth to answer. "The truth, if you don't mind."
"I'm…just a little tired. Must be the concussion," Sorceress sighed.
Susan nodded. "Or it could be the constant missions since this command had been officially activated back in March. I have made a request to stand down the Eternia, the Guardians and the four platoons for a period no less than a week for rest and reorganization. I'm sure he will approve it."
Yes. A break. What would she do? There were the unfinished experiments Sorceress had been working on before He-man's mission to the future planet Primus. There was the mountain of books she had intended to get around to reading at some point. Curling up on the couch in the library that faced a large fireplace would be the perfect place to get away for a while. The only problem the Sorceress could see with that is the likelihood that she would not want to come back.
No. Falcon would never allow that. But the AI would agree that her operator needed a break.
"You aren't alone in this," Susan remined the Sorceress as the powerful magic-user left the infirmary.
"Am I to understand that you actually showed some diplomacy, colonel?" General Hammond asked. His tone indicated that he had a hard time believing that his top ground commander actually had a diplomatic bone in his body.
"Didn't think I had it in me, did you, sir?"
"No."
A round of chuckling circled the table.
Jon frown. "You wanna take a moment to think about that?"
"Colonel, it's no secret that you are a better warrior than diplomat," Captain Majourny pointed out.
Also, in attendance were Gabriel Burns, Susan Blanchard, Blain Robards and Adrian Cobretti. The debriefing was not supposed to last very long. It was enough to know that the mission had been accomplished, albeit at a heavy price. The Ice Queen had been freed, the Swords of Power had been recovered and Guardian Command had made some new friends. They were not strong enough to support operations in a standup fight, but that was not the point of making them.
Hammond knew that a day was coming when his command would be forced to leave Earth. It would help to have friends and allies to turn to when that time came. Until then, they could only do what they were capable of and hope for the best.
Right now, he saw some weary faces seated at the table. The rest of the teams were scarcely in better shape. Hammond had the official request from Doctor Blanchard before him, sitting atop others submitted by Guardian Cobretti, Colonel Markson, and Captain Majourny. Even without the requests to stand down, the general had been thinking hard about giving them a break. It was not like the people on the point of the spear had not earned a break a dozen times over in the past seven months.
"Still, you did a fine job out there. All of your people did," the general said. He emphasized it by looking the colonel, Guardian and Captain in the eye so that they knew he meant it. "As of now, I want all of you teams to stand down. Get some rest. Get away from here, if possible." He continued, telling the colonel to make arrangements for someone else to get the replacements for the platoons distributed and settled. A training plan was to be drawn up to bring them up to speed as quickly as possible. Under no circumstances was the colonel to be personally involved. He, like the others, needed a break.
Hammond released the meeting minutes later.
Gabe and Blain had Monstroid carcasses to examine, eager to get to them as soon as they were offloaded from the starship. Gabe had the maintenance division get to work removing all dropships and vehicles form the Eternia for inspection. The appropriate personnel on the starship's crew and among the platoon would go through the ordnance and consumables and put in the necessary requisitions for replacement materials, parts, etc.
As much as Adrian wanted to have more training sessions with the other Guardians, sometimes sharpening a blade too much was a detriment. Since Brad and Jeromy had no desire to return to their homelands, they decided to drag Sonya along with them for her own good. A relaxing time someplace other than the usual trips south to Las Vegas would do all three of them some good. Jake planned to meet up with some members of the platoons and see what was happening in the City That Never Sleeps.
That only left Adrian and the Sorceress.
"So, what do you have planned?" Adrian asked as he and Colonel Markson walked with the Sorceress through the corridors of the underground base.
"I plan to return to Castle Grayskull. There are some magic experiments I have been meaning to complete. Maybe do some quiet reading in the library."
"I figured you would do something fun," Jon said.
"That is fun for me. Broadening one's horizons intellectually can be fun," Sorceress replied. There was something else she intended to do, but she dared not voice it. "Besides, the last time we went out for what you called 'fun,' Adrian transformed in an Alien and you did several thousand dollars-worth of damage to the establishment, to say nothing of what happened to those ruffians."
Adrian turned to the colonel. "That was the highlight of the evening, as I recall."
"Why, yes, it was," Jon agreed.
Sorceress rolled her eyes in disgust.
"Why don't you come up to the cabin I have in Montana? It has a guest bedroom. Small lake. Lots of open space. Plenty of fish. That will be fun," Jon said, beaming. "Or don't you people fish on Eternia?"
"We fish, colonel. However, I lived in a desert village. Not much water around for fishing."
"And yet, within your first year on our world, General Hammond talked you into learning to swim," Adrian pointed out.
The General had said the Sorceress accompanied him and his granddaughter to her swimming lessons. A deal was worked out and the Sorceress was added to the roster. Sorceress had to transform the headdress into her natural hair, but that had not been a problem. She had no problem with water when it came to be drinking it or bathing in it; swimming in it, however, had given her a small amount of trepidation. The instructor had been very patient with the Sorceress. The woman had worked with adults many times in the past and after a few lessons had the Sorceress swimming like a fish. Now, she regularly visited the base swimming pools, where she absolutely luxuriated in dipping in the Olympic-sized pool.
"So, why not learn to fish? It's relaxing, sitting by the lake soaking up the sun, breathing the fresh air and catching the occasional fish to cook up for dinner," Jon pressed.
"Wait a minute. Why settle for Montana?"
Jon frowned. "What do you mean? It's a nice place."
"I mean, why go to Montana when you can have bragging rights catching fish on, say, another world?" Adrian suggested, grinning. "Someone told me once that there are some nice lakes and ponds in the forest south of Castle Grayskull." No need to mention who his source was.
"Are you suggesting camping out at a lake or pond?"
"Hey, that sounds even better!"
Sorceress rolled her eyes again. However, the prospect did sound enticing. Even spending a night under the stars sounded good. Provided the weather was nice, that is.
"Hmm. Maybe your suggestion does have merit," the Sorceress said thoughtfully. Inwardly she smiled at the astonished expressions on her companions' faces. It was a response they evidently had not been expecting.
Jon grew cautious. "You aren't playing with me again, are you?"
"A quaint idea, but the idea of a relaxing day by the lake sounds nice. And I just happen to know the perfect one."
Adrian sobered suddenly. "Um, what about the Snake Men? We did not exactly endear ourselves to them when we were on Eternia. Wouldn't they jump at another chance at a few of us?"
Sorceress shook her head. "The Snake Men do not care about the race of Man, or the other races, actually. We will be safe enough."
It was settled. Jon and Adrian would gather the supplies and the three of them would leave for Eternia the next day. In the meantime, the Sorceress and Adrian had a training session to attend to in the main hangar.
Falcon crept along the main avenue where the massive landing plates were moved about between the hangar spaces and the lifting platform when a starship was raised and lowered from the north end of the surface runway. When platforms were not being moved about, metal grates covered the machinery in the ground.
Despite the Etherium plating, the Guardian's footfalls on the metal grating were nearly silent. The feathers on the sides of the helmet rippled. The pattern and intensity varied depending upon the emotional state of both AI and operator. Now, both were apprehensive. Sorceress activated the energy shield from the projector on the left gauntlet. She clutched the magic falcon-capped staff – shrunken down to the size of a battle axe – in her right fist.
War Wing waited somewhere in the dim confines of the hangar bay, waiting for her. Of all the Guardians, she had the steepest learning curve when it can to combat. Using magic in defense of herself and her friends was one thing. Using magic and the physical skills she had acquired since arriving on Earth in an offensive role was something else entirely. It went against her nature to be aggressive in a fight; that was part of the reason she'd gotten brained by Shadow Weaver using nothing more elaborate than a rock. These training sessions were intended to develop that more aggressive nature she would need. Sorceress had practically preached to Adrian to not think so much as act. Stay in the moment. Whenever Adrian heard the speech, he often imagined that it was Master Yoda speaking, rather than the Sorceress of Grayskull.
How ironic, then, that she would be the one having to heed those sage words of advice.
"Keep your head in the game or you'll lose it," Falcon warned. The audio sensors were picking up the faint sounds of something skittering across the hull of the starship.
"He's toying with us."
"I have counted at least four times in which he could have 'killed' us already. And this fight is only a few minutes old!"
Despite the IR setting of the visual sensors, the Sorceress was hard pressed to separate anything living from the structure around her and the starship under which she prowled. More skittering somewhere off to the left, then the right, had her jumping at shadows. Sorceress tried to sense where Adrian flittered about, but he seemed to have found a way to withdraw from her awareness. Frowning, she tried to identify a 'hole' in the surroundings that might be him. No voids were discovered. Sorceress really wanted to know how he was managing to hide himself from her.
Getting caught under the Eternia was a bad idea, since the Alien form could walk up walls and along ceilings. Meaning he could dart across the starship's ventral hull and literally drop down upon her from above. Death from above, he called it.
Falcon quickly moved back out into the open. Infrared light radiating from the feathers on the helmet helped to illuminate the area, but the light traveled only so far. Interpreting the black and green imagery within its reach was a skill that took time to cultivate. Even so, there was nothing moving anywhere within range of the light thrown off by feathers.
Falcon suggested – again – to switch to the bundle of flares. Flares had been a compromise because General Hammond, to say nothing of the Dock Master, had absolute forbade firing off IR grenades in the hangar, despite the height of the ceiling. The last thing anyone wanted was for the blasted things to get stuck in the ceiling support struts, potentially causing damage. Flares, regardless of the type, floated down on parachutes from hundreds of feet up and were much less likely to cause damage.
Crouching by the sack of flares, Sorceress ripped the wrapper off the first one, removing and reversing the cap, striking it against the tip of the flare stick. After several strikes, the flare ignited with a snap-hiss. A jet of burning material settled down to a rosy red glow. Once it reached full bloom, Sorceress tossed it a good thirty meters away, repeating the process with four more flares. Each was thrown out at intervals to form a ring of sputtering red rods illuminating the area -except in one direction.
Under the Eternia.
With practiced ease, Sorceress ignited the last flare and casually threw it in the direction of the starship's tail. The expected sounds of the rod hitting the metal deck did not come. Instead, the sound that reached her over the external mics was more like something slapping leather. Or flesh. A knot of dread settled in the pit of her stomach. Rising from her crouch, Sorceress picked up the axe, and stood at the ready; knees slightly bent.
The sixth flare hung suspended over six feet in the air. Five black talons wrapped around the flare were attached to a carapace-like arm, which was attached to a monster straight out of a horror movie. The creature lowered its prize down in front of it.
Sorceress recognized the Syngenor immediately. It was Adrian's favorite form because of the little addition he had added, retractable bone claws that snapped out over the back of the hands. A feature definitely not in the movie she had seen.
The creature dropped the flare, snapping its arms down away from its sides, and popped out his claws. Silver eyes locked on the Guardian as the creature sidestepped to his left. Without warning, the Syngenor lunged at the Guardian. Ringing blows of claws against energy shield and axe reverberated about the fight zone. Falcon was thrown off and battered backward to the edge of the circle of flares. Just as suddenly, the creature backed off, a look of disgust on its fearsome features.
"Well, that was underwhelming," Colonel Markson commented.
The colonel stood in the company of General Hammond, Gabe Burns and the other four Guardians and their operators. All of them were watching the battle unfolding in the spacecraft hangar from the safety of the cavernous maintenance hangar to the west, standing within the circle of designated control stations normally used for monitoring the systems of each battlesuit. Currently, the station for Falcon had been reconfigured to monitor the battle, using the security system and the extra cameras set up to monitor training sessions for later review and dissection.
"She is not concentrating," Hawk observed. The humans were still not used to hearing what a suit AI had to say without the respective Guardian translating the usual telepathic contact.
"That seems rather obvious," the colonel remarked.
"Whatever is going on with the Sorceress, Adrian is determined to get her to work through it," Jake said.
The group winced collectively when creature and Guardian closed on one another to trade more blows. After a brief exchange, Falcon was grabbed by the right arm, spun around several times to build up momentum and then flung violently away. She tumbled across the floor in a cacophony of metal scraping on metal.
"I am concerned at how hard they are going at it," Hammond said. The last thing he needed was for either of them to get incapacitated as a result of this training session. While the command was standing down for the next week, a new mission could pop up at any moment.
"She consented to it. The Sorceress does not want to be treated any different from anyone else when it comes to this sort of training," Claw said. "While we do blunt the blows from physical and energy attacks, there is still an element of risk. The Sorceress is not focusing. Something to do with her battle with Shadow Weaver, I should expect."
Brad Frowned. "But she and Falcon won that despite the Sorceress getting brained with a rock."
"True," Claw agreed. "But we suspect is has less to do with the physical fight and more to do with what Falcon herself did when Shadow Weaver tried to take possession of her."
"Which was?" the colonel prompted, slightly irritated that the AIs refuse to volunteer any information unless someone practically dragged it out of them.
"Unknown. Both are tight-lipped about the whole affair," Hawk responded.
Colonel Markson pegged the battlesuit with his best 'well, duh' look. "And that's earthshaking news, why?"
"Well, more tight-lipped than usual," the AI amended.
Falcon and the Syngenor continued trading blows within the circle of flares. Sorceress struggled to keep her defenses up while ignoring the AI's incessant chatter about switching to attack here, defense there, combination where necessary. Falcon had been thrown seven times, while her throws of Adrian had been only three. And those three had been lame at best.
Standing once more to face the onrushing Syngenor, Sorceress growled, "Enough of this!"
The creature drew within a distance of four feet as the glowing capacitor in Falcon's chest plate flared brilliantly. For an instant, the white light smothered the glow from the ring of sputtering flares. A shaft of energy blasted outward, punching the creature square in the chest. The force of the strike instantly stopped the creature's forward momentum, throwing it backward.
Syngenor left his feet, a howl of surprise escaping the boxy mouth full of razor teeth. He slammed to the metal deck, continuing to slide away, toward the light ring's boundary. Adrian reverted to human form, clad in War Wing's combat mode. His backward slide came to a screeching halt as Etherium plates struck metal decking.
Sorceress opened her faceplate, concerned that she had lashed out too aggressively. The AI was strangely quiet.
Adrian sat up in a whirring of mechanical joints and linkages. The silver faceplate popped out and slide up. A look of amazement was plastered to the man's sweating features. "Now that's how you're supposed to fight in hand-to-hand combat!" he burst out, gesticulating wildly for emphasis. "From now on, that's how you fight!" Sorceress sagged in relief; some of the tension immediately drained out of her.
"The suits have abilities even they haven't discovered yet," Adrian continued, using a teaching tone he had developed training when subordinates in the past. "The capacitor blast is one of them. Likely, Falcon has others she can readily come up with." He strode toward the Sorceress as he spoke. "Listen to her. Stay in the moment. Concentrate. And most of all-" Saber handles popped out of his leg armor and slapped into waiting hands. "- Never let your guard down!"
Sorceress backed up several paces at the snap-hiss of the sabers, flinging up the energy shield and shortened magic staff to block the ruby blades.
"Because you never know when the fight will truly be over," Adrian finished. The glow from the blades cast an eerie pall over both their faces. "Whatever is going on between you and Falcon needs to be resolved."
Sorceress' eyes widened at that revelation. Neither of them had said a word to anyone, much less each other. Then again, one did not have to have a degree in clinical psychology to see that something was going on between woman and AI.
The pair broke apart in a flurry of jabs, parries, blocks and lunges. It was quite a beautiful dance for not being choreographed ahead of time. It ended abruptly, Adrian standing with his left side to his adversary to present a narrow target, left arm extended, glowing red blade an inch from the Sorceress' throat.
"Seems I have this round," he declared.
A rap in the left ribs from the falcon staff told him otherwise. Craning his neck to look down, Adrian saw the falcon's head had morphed into a sharp point that would have easily penetrated his ribcage if it were not for the suit of power armor.
"Draw?"
"Draw." Adrian agreed. "Though in a real fight, there are no draws."
That was something Captain Hohiro Takamora, the officer in charge of Charlie Platoon, drilled into everyone he trained. Sometimes it took a few beatings in sparing matches to drive the point home. Painfully.
Both stepped back, deactivated weapons, and bowed, another show of respect Hohiro was notable for. The fight was not over until the bow was executed, another painful lesson he drilled into anyone brave enough to suffer his training methods.
After picking up the now spent flares, the pair made the long walk back to the maintenance hangar. "I meant what I said," Adrian pressed. "You don't have to talk to us about what went on in the fight with Shadow Weaver, but you two need to discuss what happened and come to some sort of resolution. This down time will not last. We'll need both of you focused."
It was not a request. Since the other five Guardians had elected Adrian as their leader, a proposal made by the Sorceress herself, she had also agreed to take orders from him when necessary. This was one of those times.
Sorceress promised that she would resolve the issue with Falcon. Trouble was, she had no idea how to do it.
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