Chapter Sixteen

A Supper Before The Storm

Fred and Joe had huge smiles on their faces because the name also referred to teeth. The name still suited the ship almost perfectly; Shining Fang did have a more intimidating name than Little Tooth. Looking at the ship its surface had no viewports or way of looking outwards by any ordinary means. It did have the same shape as Little Tooth, but that’s where the similarity ended. “So where are you going to put the name on Shining Fang? It’s also going to need the empire’s symbol on it for appearance sake.” Fred asked Sky as he gestured to her new ship.

“The surface of Shining Fang can’t be marked at all. Nothing will ever stick to the side of her. It would be like painting liquid metal; anything you put on it will slide off. I have no way of attaching anything to the outside of her. What you see is the way it’s going to stay forever.” Sky said looking up and gave Fred a sad look; it was one of the things she didn’t consider when building her. “She’ll never be dirty or have any graffiti on it no matter where you put it.” She said trying to make him think of the benefits and the negatives.

Sky brainstormed on how to make the ship take colour on the hull. She walked up to the hull and ran her fingers along the side.

Fred watched Sky slide her fingers down her ship. Just as she came close to the lowered ramp, she snapped her fingers together. Turning to Fred, she gave a big smile of enlightenment.

Todd saw the bottle hit the ship and explode on to the hull. It was a sight he wouldn’t soon forget as everything just slid off not even beading up. He couldn’t wait to take it out on its maiden voyage. “Captain Fred Sir I think its bad luck not to take out a christened ship right away.” Todd never heard of any such superstition, but if it meant piloting it sooner, he would be happy.

Fred looked at Todd and shook his head chuckling; he had another Idea. “That’s not going to work. Nice try though but I have an idea. We’re going to trade places before we enter the Rogue solar system. We can do a better reconnaissance in Shining Fang than in Little Tooth. I’ve seen that we make it through undetected the first pass, but after that, we’ll have to split up to do our separate missions.”

Fred said looking at everyone and smiling to Todd. “You, Sky, Jane, Heather, and Courtney can take the new ship out lower your cargo ramp, and Joe and I will fly inside and park it until the next stage.” He rubbed his midriff. “We’ll stop for lunch before we start the mission,” Fred said to the five people who were going to go on Shining Fang for its short maiden voyage.

“Hold on don’t think of walking to the mess, we have a toast to make to Shining Fang,” Rocssanna said before they could make more than two steps. She made a sweeping motion at the mess Sky made smashing the champagne bottle, and it was gone. Then she opened her pantry purse and handed out wine glasses to everyone. While she handed out the glasses, William popped the cork and poured a small amount into everyone’s glasses. When Sky received her two sips, she felt like a grownup, stood taller while trying to look more mature.

Rocssanna glass was the last one poured, and she held it up. “To our dear cute little angel may your heart not surpass your deeds and your deeds not surpass your heart. Cheers.” She said raising her glass. Everyone did likewise, and a loud cheer went to the toast. They took a sip of the champagne; it tasted sweet and a little like roses.

William held up his glass “To the hero to some, daughter and sister to others, but a friend to all, Sky, cheers. They all shouted cheers with William and took another sip.

Fred held out his glass seeing it had a splash inside. “Since there is little champagne left this will be the last toast.” He closed his eyes briefly and started a toast. “Shining Fang was made to save lives and to keep loved ones safe. With this the only thing that keeps us in favour of winning. To Sky, my other daughter that, I love and to the crew that will pilot the fine ship, Shining Fang.” He held up his glass, and the cheer went up in a loud roar. They took the last sip of champagne and handed the glasses back to Rocssanna.

Sky had tears in her eyes and blush across her cheek. She tried to wipe away the tears saying something about dust covertly. “I love all of you like my family. I couldn’t stand by a let any of you get hurt let alone anything else.” She wiped her face and looked at the ship and seen their reflections. “Let’s get a picture of us all standing in front of Shining Fang before we go.”

Conny appeared before them, and Swan was next to her in an instant. “We can take a picture of us all and then you can take the ship out. Then we can fly Little Tooth into Shining Fang. They all stood around Sky, and her parents then took the picture. On the wall opposite of them, the picture appeared larger than life.

“Let’s not waste any more time and get this ship out of my cargo bay. It’s has a funny feel to it. I can’t feel it at all. So, Todd could you take her out with care, and we’ll swap places. Dinner is in ten minutes.

Todd leads the crew on to the ship while trying not to run like a bunch of five-year-olds at any festive time receiving the gift of a lifetime. The flight was going to be monumental that was going to be the first of many. It didn’t bother him in the least that no one could know of the things he was going to do. Shining Fang is a ghost ship never to be registered legally; it broke too many guild laws.

“Todd sir I did you like the controls I came up with? I hope the power to the g-drive isn’t overpowered like everything else seemed to be.” Sky said easily keeping pace with his larger strides give him a worried look.

“Don’t worry sis I’ll take it easy while piloting the ship inside.” He went quiet as they entered the bridge. He sat down in the captain’s chair and let out a sigh as in book form of his body. He heard three other sighs as Jane, Courtney and Heather took their seats. As if synchronize they reach up and caressed the surface of the controls. Sky just stood by with a smile when Todd placed his hands on the orb controls.

He could see everything in the cargo bay, and basic data showed up as he glanced at each object or person. The landing gear raised and blended into the ship as nothing was there. Todd was ecstatic as he controlled the ship as if with his mind and easily piloted the craft. “I flew this ship in virtual simulations, but the real thing feels like piloting pure power. It’s like I’ve flown this my whole life.”

His face was filled with unbridled pure joy. He eased the ship around and towards the exit ramp and around his scout ship. As he looked around, he could see the distance from each object in coloured numbers. Green being optimal, solid red meaning contact or collision. He felt a slight shimmer go through his body as he left the magically enlarge room, hearing in intake of air in front, he could tell he wasn’t the only one who felt leaving the magical barrier.

After leaving the ship, the sensors seemed to come to life. Watching Little Tooth swing around it had a slight green aura encompassing it, and you could see where everyone was in the ship even with Sky’s enhanced cloaking spell. Fred and Joe were on the bridge while Rocssanna and William were getting things ready in the mess. When you looked any length of time, more information popped up on a hub display. It showed their estimated weight, height, and magical affinities of Fred and Joe. Rocssanna and William just flashed unknown, and it just had had distance from the ship in the hub.

Todd felt like he was piloting a platform rather than a ship because only the deck was visible when not looking directly at it. “Do you think we could take a quick flight before Fred comes aboard with Little Tooth? It’s not like we’re going to go after the Rogue mages ourselves.” He asked his crew with no one in particular.

“Todd I would love nothing more than to see just how fast this ship can go too, but we’ve got a mission to do, and it’s not going to wait for us to finish playing around. I think we’ll get our chance soon, so hold your hounds and don’t let your horses get away with you, as the old saying goes.” Courtney said berating her long-time squad leader. She wanted for him to disregard her warning and fly around for a while.

A pat on her hand from Heather letting her know she felt the same way. “Honey I don’t think that’s how it goes, but I know what you’re trying to say.” Heather turned to Todd with a teasing grin. “Todd let’s get this mission underway, and we’ll get our chance soon enough, Fred did say we’re most likely going to make it through this alive now that the ship’s built.” Heather paused as she looked off into deep space. “I see one of the Rogue ships heading our way. It must have one of the special mages on it. I don’t detect any scanning beam or magical energy coming from it.”

Todd was going through his options when Fred hailed. “Squad leader Todd hold while I dock in your cargo bay. We have to hurry before we are detected. Point your bow in the direction of the incoming ship. I think it picked up the spatial distortion while you left the cargo bay. There is quite a difference from normal space. The ships most likely investigating everything knowing someone’s coming for them.” Fred’s voice was not to be questioned and left no room for disagreement.

“Yes, sir,” Todd answered and turned the ship to face the incoming rogue ship that was out of the older sensor range if not for the massive spatial distortion wave. As soon as he was in the right orientation, he let Fred know. “We are a go on internal docking Captain Fred Sir, ready when you are.”

“Hold still Little Tooth is coming in,” Fred said as Joe slowly brought the ship in.

Sky watched and could see piloting the ship ever so carefully towards Shining Fangs cargo bay loading ramp. She could understand how it would look from the outside looking in. It would be like threading a needle with heavy rope. Once you get the heavy rope perfectly lined up, it would in a way shrink down to fit but not. You had to approach with near perfection or crash into the opening of the ramp, and Little Tooth would suffer all the damage. Any collision with Shining Fang would give it more power because of the kinetic force energy conversion.

She was getting hungry and decided to offer a hand. “Captain Fred and Joe Sir, I would like to offer a hand to help.” She paused for a grown-up word. “And expedite the landing process as I did Todd’s scout ship. If you cut your g-drive, I’ll take it from here.” She asked hoping Joe wouldn’t take any offence to his piloting.

Joe frowned at how smoothly Todd left the cargo bay “I was wondering how he did it so quickly.” He thought to himself. “Please do so, I’ll be able to do it. I think, but it would take time to do so. I sure you’re ready to eat soon now that you know the ship flies straight.” Joe said in a joking tone. He wasn’t worried about the approaching rogue ship.

Sky smiled and reached out too Little Tooth and enclosed it in her kinetic grasp. She pulled it into the cargo bay quickly with ease and brought down the land gear with Conny’s help. She brought Little Tooth close to the exit from the cargo bay room. “I brought you close to the exit, so you won’t have to walk very far to get into the main ship.”

“You’ll be coming over too Little Tooth for your lunch, and then we’ll test Shining Fang against the rogue’s scout ship. They won’t get here anytime soon by the speed they’re coming so we have plenty of time to eat and plan our encounter.”

Sky was halfway to the cargo bay before the rest of the crew pried themselves from, they’re chairs. Todd reluctantly left the bridge and followed after Sky with the rest of his crew equally grudgingly. “She must be hungry to run so quickly. I would have been happy to eat trail rations so I could stay in the command chair.”

Sky ran up the cargo bay they had just left and into the mess. “Mommy, daddy it is so neat flying in Shining Fang, even that short trip. Everything works so well, even better than I planned. But I’m so hungry from working, I feel faint and could eat a large animal. Do I have to wait for the slow pokes before I eat”? She finished in a pleading tone.

“No, my starving little angel. You can use the whole pot today for a bowl. I made extra for everyone. They may not know it but the way you used them, they should be just as hungry. It just hasn’t hit them yet.” Rocssanna said hugging her cute little daughter and ushering her to a large pot easily three times the size of her regular bowl.

William was just about finished dishing out the favoured stew and bread when everyone seemed to rush in at a quickened pace. “I see it must have hit you. I bet you’re quite hungry right now. It’s a good thing we have enough of Sky’s extra large bowls for everyone. I think you’ll need to eat much more since you’ve been working as her.” William said with a chuckle, filling the last bowl from what seemed a bottomless pot.

Fred sat in front of one of the huge bowls which didn’t look as comically large as it did to the rest of the crew. He bowed his head and sang a quick mantra and dug in. He nodded to a smiling William who seemed to understand his haste.

Heather and Courtney put their heads together and said a quick prayer to themselves. Before eating

Joe sang a similar mantra to Fred’s before eating.

Todd closed his eyes and bowed his head briefly before eating himself.

Jane sat next to Sky who was observing everyone’s pre-meal ritual. “I used to pray too, but after being altered by the mages, I felt abandoned by God.” Jane gave Sky a forlorn look. “If they have no time for me, I have no time for them. Have you ever prayed to a higher being, Sky”?

Sky just shook her head “no” not wanting to talk with her mouth full. “I was never one to contemplate the need to ask for anything. Sure, I wished to have friends, but to me, that was just selfish. Plus, mommy and daddy never prayed to anyone either. Mommy taught me they released us from serving our god a long, long time ago. So, we don’t pray any more we try to be kind and forgiving to any races including all animals. We don’t needlessly kill, all the meat we have I killed because I had to and nothing goes to waste.” Sky finished, saying no more so she could continue eating. She didn’t want to seem rude, but she was still too hungry to talk any more.

She was kneeling on the chair so she could reach over the rim of the pot. It looked comical with her large spoon flashing to her mouth, yet still a smile of savouring between bits.

Jane picked up on Sky’s reluctance to talk. She looked to Rocssanna and William who took it upon themselves to finish Sky half-told story.

“The Titan race is the oldest of all the beings that we know exist. It is surprising there aren’t more ancient Titans around since we don’t die from old age or sicknesses. Maybe we stop counting our age after a while and stop caring about the passing of time. Our parents always told us they were a few thousand years old even after we reached a thousand ourselves. My theory is after three thousand years, or so you never got older. As for our gods, we have a theory that after they created us and a few other races along with vegetation and animals on a dozen or more planets, they went on to create other worlds and galaxies. You’ve got to admit almost all the intelligent races look alike, that we have two arms and legs in common. So, when anyone prays to their god, they might be praying to ours too. It’s just that we were never asked to thank our god after if I believe my history lessons two million years of worship.” William said and gave his loving wife a look who nodded in agreement.

“I never gave ancient history much thought. I only took history back one and a half million years. I was part of royalty, so history wasn’t a big issue neither was ancient religion.” Rocssanna was polite as talked to Jane not wanting Titans to sound above any god.

No one else wanted to talk religion just then; the food was too good to let go cold. Religion and politics were best left for lazy afternoons and passing idle time. Jane just thanked the Knights for the meal.

“Mommy is there anything for dessert? I’m in the mood for something sweet now, and I smell that there’s something just right here in the mess.” Sky said looking around for the rock candy cake she smelt.

“Yes, there is desert, but it’s your turn to wait. Your cake will be another five minutes, but the softer cakes are already done.” Rocssanna walked to a chilled rack and pulled out six round cakes with dark blue icing and white sprinkles. It was hard to believe that on top was a small model of Shining Fang. “It’s our way of thanking you for helping our cute little angel with building the ship. I still have to say sorry for the way she grabbed some of you in various places. I didn’t raise my girl to do that and am sorry for any discomfort she may have caused.”

“Mommy I have no memory of what happened. I just know that I did something wrong. I already apologized for what I did. Thanks for bringing it up again.” Sky said with a pout, her cheek slightly flushed.

Fred laughed a little. “It’s not like it was out of any mischief, I probably would have done the same thing had I been in her shoes. It would be like having an extra arm attached to you or suddenly big muscles. You would defiantly try to feel them right. I’m just glad she realized what it was in time and not damage us. Although the new healing spell would have taken care of the physical damage, mentally it would take a long time to heal.” He winced at the thought.

“No harm was done, but you do know to judge by your mother you won’t be getting these anytime soon if ever,” Heather said jokingly lifting her breast slightly and sticking out her chest. “These are the real deal.”

Fred got upset with Heather, and she felt his displeasure. “I don’t think it’s appropriate to talk and act like you are. Might I remind you Sky is only nine and should not be subjected to your un-lady like behaviour”! Fred’s voice startled everyone but the Knights and Joe.

Rocssanna laughed “It’s just a harmless tease, she done nothing that I haven’t done. But Heather tease her when it’s just us girls, we don’t need the men to get all flustered when we act a little more freely.” She said in Sky’s direction as she hid behind the pot she had just finished. Rocssanna walked over to the cooling racks were eight small beautifully made cakes. Everyone’s eyes followed her every move as she placed the cakes on plates.

Courtney pinched Heather's side teasingly. “I think you can handle a little cake; we’re going to need the calories soon.”

Heather gave Courtney a playful smile. “I think you should give me yours too. I pull all you slack when you're too tired to continue.”

Fred and Todd both coughed into their hands, but Fred was the one that spoke. “Do you ladies think the lavatories needs cleaning that badly? Keep going, and that’s what you’ll be doing after finishing this assignment. Do you understand what I’m talking about?” Fred asked the two soldiers with his huge meaty fingers laced together and a devious grin.

“No Sir, we understand perfectly well. “Courtney and Heather chimed together too perfectly to have been the first time.

The little angel saved the mood with a laugh. The innocent Sky giggled at the two. “If that’s the case I should get all of the cakes. You’re all grown-ups, and I’m still growing up, hahaha. More for me!”

William patted her on the head as he cleared Skys dishes. “Not going to happen, you’re our little angel, not a greedy little devil. Now is the time to cut loose and a time to enjoy each others company.” He looked to the two women, smiled. “Within reason in the company of your junior.”

Rocssanna bumped his hip playfully. “Just get the dishes and stop teasing the poor girls. The cakes are coming up.” She said giving William a quick kiss on the lips before pushing him along. She proceeded to hand out the cakes to everyone. Sky looked almost teary-eyed with no cake in front of her.

She had just finished handing out the soft cakes out with little ships on them. William was just behind her passing out forks.

Jane held up her cake. “To the Knights may we always are welcome at their table and meals.” The others took up her cheer and lifted their cakes too.

Just as everyone started in on their dessert, a chime sounded, and Sky’s cake was done. Everyone but the Knights found it unbelievable when William reached into the hot oven and pull out the small cake with his bare hands as if were room temperature. He brought it to a counter where he had some icing and sprinkles out of Sky’s line of sight. He made a strange motion as if pulling something invisible off the cake and flick it onto a black metal plate before icing it. Courtney had to ask William what he pulled off the cake.

“Oh, that was just the heat. The icing melts when you put it on top too soon. Don’t worry I flick it into a heat sink we use in the kitchen.” He answered her as he iced the cake, put on the sprinkles and the model ship as the finishing touch.

“I’ve never heard of magic like that how did you do that”? Todd asked while savouring the cake.

“Oh, that wasn’t magic it was something like E.S.P, just about all Titans can use a degree of E.S.P. Being royalty, we are proficient in just about all forms of E.S.P. Pulling heat from something we use more often here because most of you are heat sensitive. Sky over there could suck up molten metal as if it were water.” She liked talking about Sky and seeing her blush; she was so easy and fun to tease.

William brought over Sky’s cake with a grand flourish and set it down in front of her. Sky’s eyes were as big as saucers and a little drool formed in the corner of her mouth. “Thank you, daddy; It looks tasty. It would be a shame to eat such a nice declaration though.” Sky plucked the ship off the cake as everyone else did. “I’ll save it to eat later’” she licked the icing off it before putting it down. “Mmm, it tastes like titanium. It’s like a desert with dessert.” Sky gleefully said then turn to everyone I’m joking. I know it’s not food. Hahaha, The look on everyone's face is just priceless, Conny I want a vid of that to watch again later. Maybe I can show it to people at school and be popular right away.”

Fred chuckled to himself, had just learned yet something else about Titans. And about Sky’s strange ideas for a joke. He watched as did everyone Sky pick up the whole cake and take her first bite. The cake made a crunching sound as she sunk her teeth into it.

It seemed everyone was interested in watching her eat. She smiled as she crunched away happily. With her free hand, she fingered her model as an idea come to her. With little effort, the model ship slides along the table, and it took off in flight. It flew around the room as if flying on its own. She didn’t even bat an eye as she made six others join it in a diamond formation they flew around silently. One by one everyone took control of their own as they found out they knew how to do it too. It was a mystery to them why they never used their gifts before now. They had a feeling they knew how their entire lives.

“There are so many things I could do but never tried or even given a thought of doing. I don’t understand why I never tried doing this without magic.” Courtney said to everyone and no one.

Heather looked at her. “I know what you mean. I can do so many things but never tried to do any of them. I know how to do so much without being taught”! She said giving words to her thoughts.

Everyone seemed to be able to relate to them. “It will most likely pass after some time. I think it’s from my essence controlling your bodies. Like I said before you may be changed a little but not in a bad way. Just enjoy it while you can and if you want it to last use the ones you want to keep longer. The stuff you received from me being in your bodies might be too much to keep all of it because it was put there not even twelve hours ago. It doesn’t take magic to work in Titan, but humans don’t have the brain power to perform them without using magical energy. You should be able to keep a few with constant use.” Sky was happy that no one was or seemed upset with their condition.

Jane knew all of this before and was fine with it. Looking at Sky, she had to smile. There was a little icing on her cheek and without think lend over and lick it off.

Sky was just as surprised as everyone else and blushed not getting mad. She smiled and faced Jane looking on her face. Not seeing any icing on her she put some there for the icing on the plate. Then licked it off of Jane. “You had some icing on your face too, do I have any more on my face? She said with a giggle. Jane shook her head no with a smile. “Look again.” Sure, enough there was another dab on her cheek. Before she could react, it was gone just as quickly.

Rocssanna gave them both a look. “You two should wash up before going back on to Shining Fang. It wouldn’t do to get icing everywhere on the new ship.” She said with a mischievous grin. Icing appeared all over their faces, even Heather and Courtney had a dab on their cheek closest to each other. She spared the men, although William got a wink with a silent promise.

Fred, Joe, and Todd were surprised at how fast Rocssanna moved to do something so childish. Rocssanna just shrugged her shoulders and stuck out her cute tongue. “I’m not even in the four digits, as a Titan I would be eighteen nineteen in human years. There’s a lot you don’t about our race.” She smiled turning to William with her hands placed sassily on her hips. “What are you going to do about all the icing on me.” One moment Rocssanna was there, her and William vanished. You could hear gleeful laughter coming from the guest quarters cut off by a closing door.

Sky laughed and grabbed Jane’s hand. “That’s mommy and daddy for you; they never grew up. We’ll see you on Shining Fang’s bridge in ten minutes. We’ll lessen to your briefing while we wash up.” She was out the doorway before Fred, or anyone could say anything. She was gone, and only laughter left in their wake.

When Fred turned away from the doorway, he seen Heather licking off the icing for Courtney’s face. Heather’s face was free of icing. He wanted to scold them, but with some hindsight, he decided not to. They had a long week or more before them with no respite during the mission. He wished he could have a little harmless fun too. At times like this, he missed his wife and children most. He noticed the models all land as if place back on the table.

Fred sighed and picked one of the models. He turned to Joe and Todd to address them. “Joe, Todd, go to Shining Fang and see what we have for an A.I. I’m one hundred and fifty percent we’ve anotherSky close. Heather, Courtney you better go and make sure those guys don’t use up all the hot water. Plus, you might as well take some of your stuff with you. I’m sure there are some things you could use in the upcoming mission.” Fred said standing after retrieving his model of Shining Fang. He just noted it was the same size if not close to the size of the model he has of Little Tooth.

“Fred Sir would you mind if I took my footlocker and swapped it for the one on the new ship”? Todd asked as he too got is model of Shining Fang and started for the doorway to follow.

“No, the footlockers on Shining Fang are made for that ship like everything else on it. Once you place it down, it can’t be moved after until you want it moved but never from the room. Why did you want to take the footlocker anyway”? Fred inquired giving Todd a sideways glance

“I was going to make a pocket space in it and bring all my stuff over from here to my new quarters. Since I know how to make them now, it would be a waste to forget how without using it at least using it once.” Todd said with a smile.

“Use a pillow case and make it into a pocket space. It’s bad enough with Sky making them everywhere; all I need is everyone makes them all over the place.” He said rolling his eyes thinking what the guild would say with all the pocket spaces they received no royalty money. Then there’s the fact Jane doesn’t need the magic undone to her body. I’m sure there is going to be something said about that one too.

Joe didn’t look so happy as he took his model and caught up to Fred. “Fred, can I speak to you privately for a second? There is something that’s been bothering me for a little while now. It may be nothing, but I would like to nip it in the bud before it becomes an issue.” Joe said trying to act casual and nonaggressive.

“Sure, thing we can talk in my quarters while I put this model with my collection,” Fred said gripping Joe’s shoulder and stirring him out of the mess. “I have a feeling I know what it is, and I have an idea of what to do. Whether you like it or not is a different issue.” They walked towards the barracks and their quarters. Fred and Joe entered the first room on the right, and Todd walk passed. He took the first crew quarters after on the same side. Once in his quarters, he still could not get used to some much space in the regular crew quarters. Heather and Courtney took the second women’s crew quarters on the left. Before they entered the own rooms, he told them to be on the bridge in seven minutes.

After closing the door, he walked across the small room that was bigger than the crew quarters. Now it seemed tiny in comparison to the crew's rooms. After putting the model of Shining Fang next to Little Tooth, he turned to Joe. “So, what’s on your mind, my friend”? He asked leaning on his desk.

“I was wondering after this mission what’s going to happen with Shining Fang. It’s unregistered, in violation of more guild codes than I can think of and by any rights should not even exist. I think you should make it known that Todd is not going to have it as his new ship. It’s Sky’s ship she made to save lives, and we should make her take it with her somehow or keep it for her until she finishes schooling.” Joe sounded kind of frustrated about it.

“So, you think a ship with no equal in stealth and firepower should belong to a nine-year-old girl. One I might add again to reiterate has no equal in magic and power. It should be hers simply because she made it herself with her power and almost all her materiel.” Fred paused looking Joe in the eyes with the practiced perfectly emotionless face. “You think she thought of it, designed it, built it, she should keep it. Is that what you think”?

Joe looked back at him thinking of what he just said. “I guess it’s not easy to decide what to do about her. I don’t think Todd should get it in the end. Joe stood with his arms crossed still looking flustered. “We don’t even know what it’s capable of yet. What its top speed is, how will it fire the railguns in real life, and the damage two, two barrel pulse laser cannons can do to its targets. Sky admitted to a few calculation errors. Mind you she did only spend two or three seconds on it. Not like the spell on the doorway to the practice room.” He smiled with a pause letting Fred think. “It’s like she thought about building one before.”

Sky was in the shower in a blink of an eye and Jane was a few steps behind. Jane had a bottle of scented soap and proceeded to wash Sky’s hair getting the icing out. She then washed her face and getting some icing out of her ears. After washing away the icing , Jane turned and knelt with her back to Sky and passed her the soap. Just then Courtney and Heather walked in starting a shower across them

“We’ve got to hurry; Fred wants us on the bridge in seven minutes. We’re going to be very busy and the chances of getting a decent shower are going to be far and few between.” Heather said as they two got under the shower spray.

“That’s okay we’re almost done anyway. It would have been faster if mommy didn’t get icing in our ears too.” Sky said it teamed icing out of Jane’s ears while washing her hair. Jane smiled at the contact; it felt kind of ticklish to her, and she poked Sky to get her to stop.

Sky step around in front of Jane a tilled her face up into the spray and washed her face as gently as possible. “Mommy used to wash me till I was four, but she said I got too rough and she had me shower by myself most of the time. She would still wash my back if I joined her alone before she finished.” Sky said making a happy face thinking of the fond memories. She finished washing Jane’s face and gave her a quick peck on the nose. “All done.” She stood and finished washing while Courtney and Heather quickly washed each other’s hard to reach places. In a few minutes, everyone was done their shower and dried off. They quickly walked to their rooms and dressed in their combat uniforms and gear.

Sky hair had to be braided to fit the hat. She traded the uniform with the skirt and tights for all tight-fitting all-black body armour Jane wore during combat. The reinforced metal shoulder pads, segmented chest, and torso gave a new look. She stood in front of Jane with positive energy crackling around her. For a nine-year-old girl, ready to fight, to kill, she looks pretty scary but so cute. “How do I look, big sis?”

Jane had no words forming in her mouth. Courtney and Heather, who entered in time to hear the question faired no better. All they could do was remember how she sparred with herself and imagine her in actual combat. She looked like a cute reaper of lives. They felt horrible now seeing her as a combat mage. Guilt pressed down the high they got before a battle engagement.

Courtney broke the silence when she saw Sky frown at the lack of response. “You look, good kid; you look like part of the team.” She reached Jane, grabbed a shoulder, and shook her out of her funk. “Jane here is going to take care of you; she’s the best there is.”. Courtney let go of Jane and grabbed both of Sky’s armor-plated shoulders briefly noting they were softer than her actual flesh. She felt almost silly telling someone nearly indestructible to stay safe. “Remember to watch each other back, everyone comes back, got that kiddo, everyone comes back!”

Heather didn’t and couldn’t add anything to Courtney’s words not trusting her voice. She just patted Jane and Skys armoured chests over their hearts and went back to her room to pack a few things. Courtney made the same traditional gesture and followed Heather shutting the door behind them.

Sky and Jane left Heather and Courtney to pack a few things to take with them to Shining Fang.

Once the door was shut Courtney hugged Heather “Why in the blazing nova are we allowing a little kid fight. She’s to kill people, lots of people.” Heather cried banging on her friend's armoured chest holding back a sob. “You saw how she can fight, she could take out all of us going full out even with captain Fred and Joe, who the elite of the elites in seconds. And that’s giving us time to hit the ground.” Heather gazed pleadingly into Courtney's eyes for her response.

“What can I do babe? She’s her girl. That so-called little kid had magic burn to the second degree. None even knew there was a second degree because you usually die from shock when it reaches your sternum.” Courtney paused clutching Heather tighter after saying it out loud made it feel macabre. “We should pack some gear and get going. Are you going to be okay babe?” She asked holding Heather out at arm's length gazing into her pretty tear streaked brown eyes.

“I not the one you should be asking, but I’m good.” Heather double tapped over Courtney’s heart. “Let’s roll we’re gonna be late, hun.” Heather turned to her locker walk-in closet to pack, and Courtney went to her’s.