Chapter Seven

Mission Problems

Fred and Joe made their way to the bridge and found Conny and Swan there. They were at Joe’s console going over some data streams.

Fred took his captain’s chair, and Joe walked towards his own as he approached the Sky look-a-likes moved out of his chair. Joe had to ask what they were up. “Ladies are you finding anything interesting in the data streams.” The virtual ladies nodded.

“We found some encrypted messages coming from the solar system to the planet we found the knight’s on. We are trying to break the code they sent, but they used some magic to scramble the message.” Conny looked to Swan for confirmation of her statement.

“We have little information as of now and what little we know makes sense. As we decipher the code, it changes to a new code every other word. So, we have yet to find the overall decryption method. It’s proving to be very difficult as of yet.” Swan did not seem pleased with her progress with the decryption so far.

“So, what do you have so far that you can make out? Anything will be useful if we’re going in with nothing but visual info. Maybe we can make some sense of it. Fred’s pretty good at coded messages, and he’s broken more than a code or two.” Joe glanced back to make sure Fred was paying attention to the two AI’s.

“Most of the code coming back from the planet was not too hard to decode.” Conny pointed to the forward vid screen. A visual bleep appeared on the screen and was broken down to a lengthy coded message that was super compressed.” Sections of the code got highlighted, and the possible word were placed below. The first Word was blank and the second to fourth was “baby blue bird” followed by several more blanks then flew. Then there were more blanks; overall there was not a lot to go on.

“We believe it might have something to do with Sky and her parents leaving the planet. There were no departures from the planet other than a few gems sold to a merchant ship two months ago; we were the first since that time to come and go. The other ship left since our departure.” Conny looked to Fred to see his reaction.

Fred outwards appearance never changed. “What could you make of the reply? It might be able to shed some light on the message they sent first.”

“We can’t even make out one word of the encrypted message. It’s a new code with no known cyphers. It resembles the sigils of an incantation or a spell circle than any known alphabet. The main problem is they don’t seem to have any pattern to them; they seem random. We were going to ask Sky to look, but she’s putting a lot of effort into the upcoming ship build. We don’t want to cause any problems for her. After all, she sent us the messages to decode because she was so busy with getting all the info, she could on building a ship. She’s putting in more time and effort into this than anything else she has ever done. I’m envious of whoever gets to pilot it first it’s going to be a thing of legends after this mission.” Conny could see Fred’s face as he seemed to beam with pride of his third daughter.

“Your right she does have a lot to do right now, and this is something that is not likely to help find the abducted people. We should let her be till at least until after she finishes the ship. Right now, they don’t know where she is and have no way of tracking us either.” Conny and Swan faded from sight as they left Fred and Joe to plot the course through the rogue’s solar system.

Fred and Joe looked over the layout of the ships last locations and any known bases the rogue mages had. There were around six places likely to have some unidentified bases, and four were likely to have the abductees. Fred was wondering if Sky could upgrade the existing scanners with the new ones before entering hostile scanner range. He had a feeling his new awareness would come in handy. If his assumption was correct, he could follow the active scan back to its source and could spy on them through the established link. This concept was new to him, and he had to try it out

Joe was wondering if the new type of controls could be used now on Little Tooth. He knew not to ask Sky it would delay building the ship. He watched Fred plot a course through the solar system. It was a very good plan of action, and he didn’t have much to add. “I think we should orbit the three largest planets to get a good passive scan. They’re just a little too big to fly by quickly. I think with our new awareness we should be able to scan the entire surface with the passive scan and heightened abilities.”

With the revisions made and doubled checked it was all settled on the course of action. It was going to take four days to pass through the solar system and make out all the most important updates on the rescue plans and capture details. Do you foresee anything getting in our way anytime soon?

Fred looked off into the void of space to see if he could start a vision. It happened as if on cue Fred could see himself as if watching from a distant. He was addressing Jane and Sky on a vid screen that there were some more abductees near his location when a cloaked ship attacked their scout ship. It was multiple attack that somehow broke through her shields and disabled the ship. Sky was casting her healing spell as fast as she could to prevent a lot of damage. It looked like they were going after the rescued mages again and possibly Sky herself. Sky ended up retaliating with a beam of pure magic that burned out the rogue ships ability to absorb magic. She then hit them with another incantation to freeze them solid. She left them to get to where Fred had found the abducted mages and to free them.

Fred and Joe were engaged in a battle with a small private armoured starship. They all seemed to have energy syphoning shields. A well-placed sphere could knock them down but would kill too easily. He saw out the corner of his eye the scout ship land to start the rescue of the mages he had found. This mission was proving to be more difficult because of the strange chaotic magic they used. Sky could break the spells once cast; but not as they formed. He was lucky to have William and Rocssanna on board because they could do the same.

It was clear after the first engagement these rogue mages were after Titans. The magic they used was to stop nullifying effects the Titans had on magic. It only worked half way. They were only able to limit the distance and area they could dissipate most of the spells cast.

Sky was taking an incredible amount of punishment form the entrenched mages. Jane started to be the focus of half the mages fighting. Sky had to cast more and more healing spells on Jane. She was killed or incapacitated over six times. In frustration, she started killing the mages that got in her way. Jane could do little to stop her; she too was kept alive by Sky’s healing magic she was constantly feeding her. The spell was now focused on her and not wide range as before.

Fred decided to change Sky’s role to stop the killing of the rogue mages. His vision reset and Sky was now part of his crew, and never completed the new ship. The engagement went well till they reached the first large battle cruiser. The magic they held was at full strength, and they quickly outclassed Todd’s crew and scout ship. Even with the new shields and the gold tomes and the multi-elemental gold tomes they were close to being overtaken. The strange magic was too much Sky seeing her new friends in such danger did something he could never have guessed she would do. In a fit of rage, she jettisoned herself out an airlock and grew to her true Titan form. Without hesitation wiped out every rogue ship within her reach, which was considerable. The vision ended with Sky floating in space unmoving. That was another unacceptable scenario.

Fred was going to have to accept some of the rogue mages deaths to prevent the needless deaths of his crew. The rogue mages seemed to be mad with power, and the incantations seemed to make them unstable at best.

Joe saw Fred go silent and knew he was having a vision of the future. What he wasn’t expecting was his body go rigid then relax, and after a few moments, his fist clench and his body shake as if enraged. From what Joe knew of Fred’s gift the future was not too appealing for someone. When his eyes opened, he was not too pleased with his choices.

He turned to Joe. “Sky is the most selfless being, even more so than her parents. I may have to let her be a monster to save countless lives. I would love to leave her out of this whole mess, but that is not an option if we want to live. She is going to keep us all alive and save all the abducted people yet over a quarter of the rogue mages are going to die at her hands. The chaotic magic the rogue mages hold is just too much to let live. I’m going to talk to the Knights about Titans. There are a few questions I’d like to ask them. Set the course we planned and inform me when we reach the border of the rogue mages sensor range. I’ll be in the mess hall talking to the Knights. Fred got up and left with no further orders, walking in no particular hurry.

Joe wanted to know what got him so upset but wasn’t about to ask. He just did as he was asked and set about applying two of the multi-elemental tomes to his body. He knew as long as Sky was sharing, he would need no other magic. She certainly changed things in his life. Not even a week before the thought of any new crew would have had him questioning why. Now he can’t seem to do much without her, and he has been trying to. It was her eagerness to help that got him hooked on using her. She was somewhat like a multi-tool you keep on finding new things she can do. She comes up with a way of helping in everything and in ways you can’t turn down. Joe couldn’t quite remember what life was like without her. She just fit in as if she was always there. She was the daughter he never had, and yet the tiny girl was his little hero.

Jane excused herself to get some rest since she was first to help Sky by casting the healing spells for her and the crew. She was also going to keep her company and help when or if she could. She knew she wouldn’t be able to help much, but if there were a chance, she would be there.

Rocssanna and William were cleaning up after preparing the fourth dish for Sky’s soon to be frequent meals. It was going to be strange seeing her come and eat every few hours, but for her, it would be six or seven hours between meals. Rocssanna looked up from the dishes when William cleared his throat to see Fred standing at the entrance. He seemed hesitance in coming in, and he looked troubled. William motioned him in and fixed him a snack of fruit he was about to dry for Sky’s in between bites.

“What’s got you troubled big guy anything we could do to help you? By the look on your face, it’s got something to do with our little angel.” When Fred took the offered seat, William placed a hand on his shoulder. The hand was not quite as hard as his daughters and much gentler with his touch. “Relax and when you’re ready to talk just let me know. We know being so young and giving her, NO allowing her to take on so much must not be easy for you. She is willing to anything she can to help out.” Rocssanna sat next to Fred.

“Let me tell you something that happened to Sky at school last year. It took a while; she managed to get her peers to see past her disabilities. Just as they could look past, she was not to touch anyone or play sports. She was still able to help them understand the lessons in the class of any subject. She was in most ways able to teach better than the teachers. Last year she tried to dress better so she would fit in even more. She was getting to like school and had a few friendships starting”.

“She was talking to another girl when a boy was running and crashed into her hard.” Rocssanna brought her fist and palm together creating thunder to effusive the impact. “He hit her hard enough to knock out most of his front teeth and break his arm. She knew what to do in first aid, but could not do it herself. She tried to tell them what to do, but all they did was scream and ask her to do something. The only thing she could do is get a teacher, running in a crowded hall was not an option, so she walked to get a teacher to help. The teacher who heard the screaming ran to see what happened never even looked in her direction and ran past her”.

Rocssanna got a little choked up while talking to Fred. “My poor angel knew she couldn’t help and started to cry herself feeling useless. Knowing what to do to help is one thing; doing something to help is another. She cried for almost two days saying she was useless and that she couldn’t do one thing to help not one thing. She made a promise to us if there is ever a chance; she can help anyone she will without hesitation. She was never again accepted like was before after the accident.” Rocssanna had a few tears in her eyes. “You’ve accepted her help and made her your daughter along with Joe. You’ve given her things she has dreamed of but could never do before. To Sky, you are her hero’s by just letting her help out around the ship anyway she can. She loves you and Joe as she loves us.”

Fred was speechless to what he found out. To him, he did so little for Sky, yet it meant so much to her. “I don’t know where to begin to tell you about the upcoming mission. She keeps placing herself in the middle of everything, and all I can do is work around her. I’m the one feeling useless now and the help she offers anyone would be an idiot not to accept.”

He covered Rocssanna’s hand with his and Williams with his other. “I don’t think you know, but sometimes I can see the future of paths I can take. My visions have been more vivid since meeting Sky, and I can see further into the future also.” He was having a hard time telling them what he saw happen to Sky and what she was going to do. “I going to have to let Sky kill people for the sake of many. I only looked down three paths. The last one starts the Titan war and is not an option.

Fred shivered remembering his all too vivid vision. “The first one Sky enters in close magical combat and kills dozens of Rogue mages, she, Jane saves all the abducted magic users there. The second one she jettisoned herself into space take on her full-size Titan body and killed just about all the rogue mages in the vicinity. I didn’t continue the vision after she went motionless and started drifting in space. I didn’t try to see further into that future after seeing her lifeless body. I think she died saving us all from the chaotic magic they use. I didn’t even try seeing what happens to the abducted people in that time stream. It is also not an option.” Fred knew the Knights were going to have questions and he braced himself for the questions.

“Fred Titan can’t die from being in space. We hibernate till we get to somewhere we can reanimate ourselves. In your vision, she was most likely sleeping waiting to get picked up. It’s not easy to kill a Titan even for a Titan. We are pretty much indestructible to even other Titans. Sky, when she becomes an adult, is possibly the only one who would be able to kill us. If a Titan fell into a star while floating in space would be next to possible death, in fact, many Titans choose to end their long life in a star, and after all if the star dies someone can always dig them out again. What do you think of Sky killing to save you and your crew? Is it her age that bothers you or is it that you couldn’t do it yourself to save her the need to do so”? She felt Fred give her hand squeeze that was what was bothering him.

“The mission is too much for this crew to do on its own. We should ask for back up and match the fanatical rogue in power. She shouldn’t have to kill like I seen her in my visions. She just too young to kill even if it’s people who would do no less to her or anyone else in their way. I had the impression of their building strength and magic to battle the Titan race. If not to take over the magic guild by force using the chaos magic. It seems to have a life of its own once casted and significant can-do damage to the target. I can’t get the image of Sky killing so easily. At first, she tried so hard to render them unable to fight. That soon changed after she revived Jane the fifth or sixth time from death or close to it. She just started to kill them faster than I thought possible. Her speed and efficiency were mesmerizing. In the blink of an eye, fourteen grand mage class magic users were dead. She had taken some damage but seemed not to care.” Rocssanna’s eye widened at that statement.

“Do you mean they managed to injure Sky with magic? That’s impossible to do; no magic user could ever do that before. What you saw was something else Sky is even tougher than us. I doubt we could even injure her in a fight.” She turned to William and saw him shake with anger.

He squeezed Fred’s shoulder a little harder, and he winced in pain. “What did you do to help Sky when you saw her getting injured? Where were you when they were hurting my little girl”? William did not look too friendly now.

Fred was not the type to take things sitting down. Releasing Rocssanna’s hand, he grabbed Williams with magically augmented strength and with surprising ease pulled if off his shoulder. “You have no idea how my gift works. So, don’t assume I stood there watching all this happen and did nothing. At the time this was happening to Sky, Joe and I were in a life and death battle to keep other mages from joining the ones trying to kill her and stop the rescue”. Fred’s deep and powerful voice filled with anger would have left most people damp with sweat and other fluids. He stood over and looking down at William. Fred’s muscles bulging, ready to tear a rogue mage apart. “Do you think for one second, I would stand back and even let her kill someone if I could prevent it? You and Rocssanna told me to focus on the fight and Sky could take care of the ones down on the surface. You were the ones saying once she saved the last abducted mages the super magic they held would be cut off.”

Williams eyes widened and tried to break free of Fred’s grasp and couldn’t without using his titan strength. It was then that something the three realized the fact he had four of the five elemental affinities did something to the nullifying effects the Titans had. Now they knew how Sky could get hurt by the rogue mages. It wasn’t just the chaos magic they used that made them so dangerous. Fred let William go knowing if William was serious, he could have done other things to break free.

“I’m sorry Fred this is the first time hearing of a Titan getting hurt by magic and my little daughter no less. Till now no other mages had more than three elemental affinities to be able to hurt a Titan. If this becomes common knowledge, there might be more magic users stealing affinities from others to restart the war.” William turned to Rocssanna, they must have had a private conversation, and all she did was nod her head.

“What are we going to do to keep her safe from these fanatical mages that can hurt her? She may even have the possibility of being killed by their magic. I know she is going to insist on going anyways and she is our best option to keep everyone alive. I wish there were better ways to get this done. In all the timelines, I considered she was the only one to be able to take them on with no collateral damage or at least no innocent people killed. Todd in the new ship could disable the smaller ships and some of the larger ones. That ended, and they found a way of stopping the railgun from working somehow. After that, they could hold their own against the larger ships.” He paced in front of the Knights not knowing what to do.

Rocssanna stood before him, blocking his way. “There is something that is not in your control and some things that are not within your rights to control. You can guide Sky in a direction, but once on course, she seems to move on a pace on one can match. You can give her nudges here and there, but she’s the not stopping until she’s run her course. She will desire to help as many people as she can now since she has not been able to help anyone when she was younger, that may change over time, maybe after a few hundred or so years.” She had a mixed look of pride and sorrow. “She will put herself in harm’s way and save those people she will be able to live with killing anyone willing to do what they did. They are not beings anymore in her eyes. They are dangerous monsters that hurt and kill people that happen to look like a race of human beings.” Rocssanna stopped to let Fred take in what she said.

“I guess I always knew she would insist on going to rescue those mages. Maybe this is what she was talking about, the purpose she was born to do. She is the only one who can beat them in a magical fight. Jane, a veteran in magical fights with equal if not more magic was begin killed repeatedly.” He paused to think. There was a huge weight on his shoulders that fate just dumped there. He was going to have to tell Sky about his visions and see what she makes of them. “I’m going to tell her after we make the pass through the solar system and make our plans for the rescue I’ll check again for a vision. Thanks for listening and not thinking, well mostly not thinking I was letting her get hurt or do horrible things intentionally.