[The Gunslingers, Book II, Chapter 15] [Confrontation] “Wake-up sleepy head.” “Wha… how long?” “Two-weeks.” “Why do you always wake up first?” “Probably the genetic virus in my wings pushes the slow-sleep drug out.” Moeth tried to roll over and go back to sleep, she didn’t feel like getting up, and the slow-sleep drug was still fogging her brain. Despite the great speeds available to every advanced world in the Empire to traverse the galaxy, the twenty-seven worlds were still isolated by vast distances between their individual solar systems. Crews on larger ships could stay awake if they wanted, provided sufficient entertainment or productive work was available, but the pilot’s of the smaller Dart Ships would go insane staring at the nothingness outside unless they used the slow-sleep. “Do I need to use ‘Awake’?” Raen held up the injection vial of the green liquid used to help pilots wake from slow-sleep. “I’m not Vel and Rin,” mumbled Moeth. Raen laughed and waved the vial in front of Moeth’s face. “Those two have probably taken so much ‘Awake’ they are bouncing off the walls inside their ship by now,” said Raen. “I’m getting up, get off me,” Moeth complained trying to push Raen away. Moeth unfastened the restraining harness and pushed herself up; a Dart Ship didn’t have gravity plates. She stretched and pushed herself to the navigation console and sat down. Raen pulled himself into the pilot seat and retracted the armored plating around the canopy; the outside wasn’t just black, it was nothing. “I wish we could see outside,” said Raen. “We can, I’m checking on the others now,” replied Moeth. “What are you talking about?” asked Raen. “We can’t see outside at light speed.” “Sure we can, it’s something I’ve been working on for physics class,” said Moeth. “Huh?” Raen twisted around to watch her enter a series of commands into the navigation computer. Wiggly lines and colors appeared on the Vid-Screen in front of her. “You think being an assassin was my life dream?” said Moeth. “I have a brain you know, and you would too if you actually stayed awake in class.” “Yea, yea, okay, so show me outside,” Raen was curious but couldn’t see how this would work, the greatest minds on Darai had worked on this problem for several thousand years. “You see these lines?” Moeth pointed at the display on the Vid. “Everyone has always tried to see outside, but you can’t see light while it’s bending around a corner. We are moving faster than the light and it is bent away from us. So, I had a thought that while we can’t see light, we can record the disturbance it makes as it moves at a right angle past the light-speed envelope created by our engines.” “Huh?” “It’s a good thing you’re cute.” “Shut up.” “Anyway, these wiggly lines represent a disturbance off to the right of the ship,” explained Moeth. “I am fairly certain that is another ship near us also at light speed.” “Wow, that’s really awesome,” said Raen. “If this is real, do you know what it means?” Moeth pressed another command and the image of a Dart Ship appeared on the screen traveling just off their wing. “Hey, that’s Vel’s ship,” Raen pulled in closer to see. “We’re looking outside.” “No, not really, I loaded a program that puts an image of Vel’s ship up on the Vid to replace the wiggly lines. I don’t really know if those wiggly lines were Vel’s ship or not, but if I can find a way to identify who’s ship is making a particular disturbance, then I replace it with the correct ship image and we see a simulation of outside.” “We are going to be rich,” Raen’s eyes lit up. “You mean I’m going to be rich,” said Moeth. “You are just an object I use, like a chair. When I no longer have a use for you I’ll replace you with a new Zoomie.” Raen lost his smile and pushed back into the pilot’s chair. Moeth’s mood swings were becoming more erratic every day. He would be the love she couldn’t live without one second, and just a Zoomie with no rights the next. He had learned not to say anything when she did one of her mood swings; she carried his egg and he would do nothing to upset her. “You don’t have anything to say?” asked Moeth. “I am but yours to command,” Raen incanted the words. Moeth leaned her head on his shoulder and stroked the feathers of his wings. He got so moody when she had to remind him of his place. “What would I do without you, love,” whispered Moeth. Raen didn’t turn around, he used to like it when she pushed him around, it had been a game, but now it wasn’t a game, he was certain she was being very serious. *** Cora was about to go stir crazy, a week bottled up alone inside her Dart Ship was mind numbing. She could have gone into slow-sleep and the time would have passed in a flash, but there was just too much to think about. She shook her head and checked the navigation computer, two more minutes and she would be back at Cyness Minor. Where would she start, what could she really do? The Gunslingers would send teams and all the students rebelling would be arrested as traitors. The Nav-Computer beeped and the ship dropped out of light speed over the desert world of Cyness Major. The console lit up and the collision alarm sounded. Cora retracted the armor plates from the canopy… “Holy baked ancestors!” …she gripped the yoke and slammed it hard to the right to avoid the large Sand Crawler that appeared in front of her and then had to pull up and made a tight flip to avoid another Sand Crawler. Student Dart Ships started dropping out of light speed and the same near collision was repeated over and over. Cora stared out at the sky - orbit - around Cyness; hundreds of Sand Crawler Transport Ships were in orbit. She saw the missile just in time and slammed the thrusters and rolled to avoid the missile. “What the…!” Cora screamed to nobody in particular. “The transports were armed and firing at them.” The sky was filled with missiles and 25mm canon rounds, the Cadet Gunslingers danced their ships in every direction to avoid the fire. “CEASE FIRE… CEASE FIRE,” a voice roared over the Com-Link. “This is Gunslinger Cadet Leader Duke Fatal, we are not hostiles, cease fire.” “Get on their bellies,” Cora switched to her teams Com-link. “They don’t have turrets on the underside.” Cora rolled her Dart Ship under one of the Sand Crawlers and used her magnetic locks to ‘land’ on the belly of the transport. She twisted in her seat looking for her team and saw Ella’s ship flip under a transport and attach to the Sand Crawler’s belly. “This is the Sheriff Tanner, Supreme Lord Commander of the Cyness Fleet, all ships cease fire,” ordered a voice over the Com-link. The Com-link exploded with the voices of Cadets… “Tanner?” “What… how?” “Tanner’s dead” “Who is this?” “Tanner? …student voices continued to step on each other over the Com. “COM SILENCE!” shouted Dukes voice. The students quieted down and Duke waited for the chatter to stop before continuing. “I was there the night Cadet Tanner was executed,” said Duke. “How I am alive doesn’t matter, I serve the sovereign and rightful ruler of this planet, Lord Cyness, whom you have kidnapped and wrongfully imprisoned. House Cyness is now at a state of war with the Kitsune Empire and the Gunslinger Order. Tanner must have left his thumb on the Com-button; the students could hear a voice speaking in the background. “Tell them to surrender and land,” coached the voice. “You will surrender your forces and land, you are prisoners of House Cyness,” ordered Tanner. “Yep, I don’t know how, but that’s Tanner,” declared Duke. “Tanner, we are not your enemy. The Gunslinger Cadets rebelled and came here to help Colt.” “Land at Sanon Airfield and we will discuss the terms of your surrender,” said Sheriff Tanner. “I’m not attacking you, Tanner, so I’m not surrendering,” said Duke. “Now, you didn’t know we were coming, so who were you waiting for?” There was a pause, and Tanner still didn’t take his thumb off the Com-link and they could here him discussing the situation with someone. “The Kitsune is sending a Battle Carrier to invade the planet,” Tanner finally responded. “I see, this looks like you have these flying sand buckets in a basic Daraian defense pattern, do you have a Daraian there advising you?” Tanner didn’t respond right away and Duke continued before Tanner had a chance to decide what to say. “Yes, you do,” said Duke. “I see it all now, you have that other Daraian, Jack’s friend, from the day Colt and his team busted into the Gunslinger prison… Tyler, that was his name, put him on the Com.” The Com-link went dead this time, Tanner moved his thumb as he handed the Com-mic to Tyler, Duke was a real Gunslinger and had just run circles around him. “Tanner, I acknowledge you are the ranking Lord on Cyness Minor, but know your limitations don’t make the same mistakes again, put Tyler on the Com,” said Duke. “This is Deputy Tyler,” Tyler spoke into the Com. “Tyler, the defense you set up here would be fine if you had battleships and the unlimited Daraian waves your people like to use,” said Duke. “But these sand buckets only have one 25mm cannon a piece and a few missile rails you probably stole from one of the Gunslinger ammo bunkers.” “What do you suggest, Sir?” asked Tyler. “Well, you have what… maybe three-hundred Sand Crawlers up here, and they didn’t hit a single Dart Ship,” explained Duke. “They are no good for orbit defense, land them and use them as tanks.” “We didn’t want to give the Kitsune a chance to drop troops,” said Tyler. “There is nothing you are going to do to stop that, you will be facing a Battle Carrier and all it’s support ships, they will get to the ground. Now, land at the Sanon Airfield, we probably have very little time to plan this, and my ships need refueled.” “Yes Sir,” said Tyler. “All ships, this is Gunslinger Duke Fatal, I am assuming command of the combined fleets, everyone land now, refuel, re-arm, and wait for me to give you proper deployment orders.” “Roger that, Commander,” said a deep voice from one of the Sand Crawlers. “You got it, Boss,” said West. “On the way, Cap,” Cora added. “Good to have you with us, Commander,” said another sand gritty voice from a Sand Crawler. Cora released the magnetic clamps from the bottom of the Sand Crawler and followed Duke to the surface. Hundreds of Darts and Sand Crawlers followed as well. *** Marshal sat in his Dart Ship, hidden behind the far side of the smallest of the Cyness Minor moons - his hand on the Com-link and thinking about the conversation he had just listened to. Was it possible? Colt’s inner Cettise self, that ancient bloodline of Imperial warriors had long since awakened, and now Duke? Marshal had intended to order the students to stand down, but Duke had swiftly and without blood-shed taken command and doubled the size of his fleet. He now had the basic ships to engage in the air and ground. And more were coming. Prince Delphean would be bringing up to eighty-thousand more ships. Maybe they could engage a Battle Carrier and win; after all, this is what they had waited two-hundred years for-the ability to fight the Kitsune. Marshal took his hand off the Com and decided to wait just a little longer and see what his students did next. *** Wes ran as fast as he could and slammed into the wall and fell back. “Again,” said the old Raven. Wes looked up at the old Raven sitting in an old lawn chair on the roof of the brick building, a water pumping station or some such thing. He had been running into this wall for the last two hours and was getting a little tired of it. “I can’t run up the wall,” said Wes. “I don’t have hollow bones like a Daraian.” “Is that what Gunslingers think the secret of running up walls is?” The old Raven laughed and gummed the apple she was trying to eat. Wes screwed his face up; the sight of her trying to eat the apple was not really very pleasant. “You know they make dentures for that?” said Wes. “Rude child,” said the old Raven. Wes walked back to his starting spot and faced the wall and sighed. He ran for the wall jumped and… “umph.” …fell on his backside and lay in the dirt watching up at the clouds. The old Raven appeared over the edge of the roof and looked down at him, then she held something out and dropped it on him. Wes sat up and looked at the objects…shoes. “Remove those senseless Gunslinger boots and put those on,” ordered the old Raven. Wes picked up one of the shoes to inspect it… “Ouch!” Wes dropped the shoe, it had bit him. He picked the shoe up by the lacing and looked closer at it. The shoe looked more like a slipper, he had noticed the Ravens wore this funny looking slipper and assumed it was so they could pad around silently. Gunslingers didn’t pad, they wanted you to know they were coming. Wes gingerly took the shoe, it didn’t bit - yet. He ran his finger along the sides and then turned it over. The bottom was smooth, no tread at all. How was this supposed to get him up the side of a building? He ran his finger down the sole, it felt odd, something was there but he couldn’t see it. He tried running his finger back up the sole… “Owww!” He dropped the shoe and looked at his finger; there was a dozen small needle holes in his finger with drops of blood welling up. “There’s something on the sole,” said Wes. He carefully picked the shoe back up and looked as close as he could be still couldn’t see anything. He ran his finger down the sole again, he could feel them, angled downward; thousands of small spikes too small for his eyes to see, maybe tens of thousands of spikes. Wes pulled his boots off and slipped the shoes on carefully and laced them up. He felt barefoot, odd, strange not to have a good steady footing. He walked back to his starting place and thought this might be how cats felt when they walked. He laughed thinking about a Raven trying to do The Long Walk in these. Wes bent his knees a few times and leaped into a run and jumped at the wall. His foot grabbed the side of the building and he made it three steps before he was off-balance and flailing his arms wildly, tipped backward and hit the ground with a thud. The old Raven looked over the side of the roof again and dropped something else down to him. Wes took a moment to get the air back in his lungs and picked up the newest object - gloves. He handled these very carefully and felt the spikes on them. “Hey,” shouted Wes. “Maybe you could give me everything at once.” “What fun would that be,” replied the old Raven. “Now, keep your center of balance forward, you have to measure your lean with the height of the wall so that it feels like you are ready to do a somersault by the time you reach the top.” Wes narrowed his eyes and putting the gloves on walked back to the start position. “Maybe fun for you, not so much for me,” mumbled Wes. He took off at a run and jumped, his feet grabbed the wall and he leaned forward… …three steps, he was holding… …five steps, he leaned forward and used the palms of his gloved hands, he was holding… …eight steps and scrambling hand grabs, almost… …Wes grabbed the roof and pulled himself over the edge and collapsed on the roof. “That was the worse climb I’ve ever seen,” said the old Raven. “You looked like a sick one-legged duck.” “I’m probably the first non-Daraian to ever do that,” complained Wes. The old Raven stood and looked at something in the distance and then knelt down and patted Wes on the chest. “You have earned three secrets today,” said the old Raven. “The first is how a Raven climbs a wall, the second is that there are many non-Ravens attending the Assassin School in the Temple, you are not the first off-worlder to learn to climb, but you are one of the worst.” “Okay,” Wes sat up. “That’s interesting, what’s the third secret?” “Did you get the history book I sent you,” asked the old Raven. “Yea, Judge Cietan brought me a bunch of books, he says I have to start classes again, I didn’t know the history book was from you.” “Page 667,” said the old Raven. “Now, I think that’s all the lesson for today, your friends are here for you.” Wes turned and saw a Dart Ship approaching, a very dirty, very rusty, and very unsafe looking Dart Ship with the emblem of the Justice of the Peace fading on the side. “I have a Dart Ship?” asked Wes. “Who’s flying it?” The ship landed and blew clouds of sand and dust everywhere. Wes was concerned for the old Raven but when he turned back to help her away from the dust being kicked up by the engines, she was gone. Figures, thought Wes, disappearing will probably be a lesson for another day, and involve me running into something heavy. The canopy raised and Urai stuck his head out. “Oh no, no no no, you are not flying me anywhere,” shouted Wes. “Get in the back, I’m flying.” Urai didn’t look the slightest bit hurt and scrambled into the back to hide. Wes unfolded the footholds and climbed up to the cockpit and jumped in. He hit the lever to close the canopy and shut out the sand billowing around the ship. Wes turned around and found Urai settling into the navigator’s station and behind him… “Nick, what are you doing here?” asked Wes. “It’s a big one, Boss,” said Nick. “You might need back up for this.” “Okay, where are we going and where did I get a Dart Ship from and how many other things haven’t you told me about, Urai?” asked Wes. “This is the last working one and I wasn’t sure if it would work anymore,” replied Urai. Wes was thinking that Urai had probably been hoping this ship wouldn’t work either, or maybe they would get lucky and the engines would fall off. “Must be bad for you to leave the office,” said Wes. “A Raven Assassination Attack team has landed on the prison island,” said Urai. “Isn’t that the most awesome thing,” shouted Nick. “Umm.. What does that have to do with me?” asked Wes. Wes knew exactly why the Ravens were here; the question really wasn’t why they were here, but why he was expected to do something about. “It’s not the island that’s the problem,” explained Urai. “It’s that they entered Pyra without authorization. They didn’t even bother answering Orbital Command when they tried to talk to them.” “Where’s the Pyran Air force?” asked Wes. “There are nine fully armed Raven ships,” said Urai. “I see, and the Pyran Air force is completely wrapped up somewhere else right now and the Justice in his rust bucket is going to go shoo the bad ol’ Ravens away.” Wes said dryly. “Those are armed Daraian war ships, Boss.” Nick laughed and Urai just looked sick and pale. “Okay boys, lets go say hi to the Ravens,” ordered Wes. Urai laid the course in with shaking hands and Wes lifted off and turned to follow the course. Something made a banging sound and Wes looked out the canopy… “Is the wing wobbling?” asked Wes. Urai grabbed an airsick bag and threw-up in it. “Oh come one, Boss, tell Urai to stop puking,” shouted Nick. Wes looked back over his shoulder at the frightened amphibian. His first impulse was to be just disgusted at the weakness Urai was displaying… but… he was the Boss now, wasn’t he, everything was on him, not Colt. “Give him a break, Nick,” shouted Wes. “He’s terrified but he didn’t run away and he’s here with us, that’s true bravery.” Wes could see Nick thinking about it for a few seconds and then he nodded and put his hand on Urai’s shoulder to comfort him. So that’s how it’s done, thought Wes, yea, I can be the Boss, I just can’t be a smart-alack all the time. Wes sped across the ocean but didn’t push the ailing ship too hard, that wing didn’t look good. The trip didn’t take too long, probably could have been shorter if he would have been able to open the throttle. The Raven ships were all on the ground and he could see some of the crews - Ravens - walking around. Wes pulled the ship over the beach and hovered. He flipped the external speakers and picked up the Com-mic. The Ravens didn’t seem the slightest bit concerned that a Pyran ship had shown up. Wes keyed the mic. “I am Justice of the Peace Gunslinger Weston Cain, you have illegal entered Pyran airspace and are trespassing on a Pyran penal island, return to your ships and leave this planet immediately.” Wes wasn’t surprised by their reaction; he might as well have stuck a bull’s-eye on the side of his ship with a photo of the Daraian Goddess taped to it. The Ravens that had been ignoring the Justice ship jumped up and all of their hands went to their sidearms. Yep, expected that, they recognize my name, I’m one of the Gunslingers they are looking for. Well, if they want to go round two, bring it Ravens. Wes did get a surprise when one of the Ravens spread wings and flew right up to the nose of his ship and drew a dagger and made the throat cutting gesture at Wes. Two of the Raven ships lifted off the ground and faced Wes’s ship, Wes counted all the armament attached to the side of the Raven ships, he was badly outgunned. Wes thought they were about to open fire when one of the Ravens on the beach started shouting towards the flying Raven. “Why aren’t they shooting?” Wes asked himself. The Com-Vid on Wes’s control panel lit up - his Com was intercepting a message, but it wasn’t for him. The message was coming across as text, but it was written in the Daraian native language and he didn’t speak Daraina, only a few words. Wes saw it out of the corner of his eye; another black painted Dart Ship with the red emblem of House Raven pulled in slowly and hovered next to him - facing the Ravens on the beach. He could see the pilot; it was the old Raven woman. The winged Raven turned around and returned to his ship, then… all nine Raven ships on the beach lifted off and climbed at full thrust towards orbit. Wes looked at the old Raven in her ship, she turned her head and winked, then just turned her ship and left. “What the heck?” mumbled Wes. He looked down at the message she sent to the Ravens that had been on the beach - looking for any words he might recognize… and found one; the Daraian word for High Priestess. The word was at the end of the message - a signature. The old Raven couldn’t be the High Priestess; Wes had seen the surveillance photo of the current High Priestess. Was it possible the old Raven had been the High Priestess once? Did a former High Priestess maintain that much power? Wes stared at the Daraian message, no… wait… that word, I remember now, it’s close to the same Daraian symbols that mean High Priestess, but that letter at the front - what’s that extra little hook on it, and that last symbol is just a little different. Wes shook his head and banked the Dart Ship back towards Cietan Island. “I should have taken the Daraian language class,” said Wes to himself. “Who is that old Raven woman?”