Chapter Seventeen

Part Two Prepping for War and Reason to Fight

“What is it, Jane? You think you can take me now that I’m even tougher and stronger than before”? Todd asked laughing a little.

“Nope not at all, I was thinking maybe now you can win without me holding back. We just might be evenly matched now that you have your body modified magically.” Jane told Todd laughing back.

Todd thought about their sparring matches, and she was always the one to make the first mistake that leads him to win. “Save your energy for the fight ahead and impress me with defeating the fanatical rogue mages. We can always have a match afterwards.

Fred coughed once again. “We still have a mission to complete, and I need all of you thinking of the mission at hand. The ship is working better than I thought it would. Right now, I want everyone to find out how many mages and ships there are. I want to know where they are and in what large groups.”

Fred said as he opened a window on the forward bridge and there was another group of ships in orbit around a planet. “Think there are more planets like this one and I can’t seem to scan the surface from here. Now that you’re finished Sky maybe you can sense what they are guarding.” He asked Sky and gave instructions for everyone to look at different sections of space around the solar system as they entered them.

Everyone could see Sky taking over what Fred had found in his search for abducted magic users. The surface of the planet was blurry and full of swirling colours. What couldn’t they see what she was trying to do to get a better image of the surface? The view suddenly changed into like a first person’s sight flying towards the surface from space. As the view got, closer huge magic circles were visible. The magic was chaotic and made no sense yet still held together.

Sky shuddered as the image passed through the ugly messy spells and the surface of the planet came into everyone's sight in large vid-window. The surface on the planet had pockmarks of craters large and small. In amongst the craters were simple rectangular containers with cables linking them together. The image focused on one of the many containers until it almost filled the screen. Men and women infrequently walked in and out of them. They wore simple life support suits for breathing.

The sight passed through the wall, and a horrible sight greeted them. Inside the containers were ten what looked to be hypersleep chambers with people. Simple sheets covered everything but their heads. Each had two tubes down their throats and two coming from down between what they assumed were their covered legs. Wires also entered under the sheets that lead up to a data panel

You could hear the crew around her cursing the people capable of heinous crimes.

The young girl dauntingly pressed on with her grizzly discovery. The view of one person to the next filled the screen. They were of no fixed gender or age. The youngest looked to be around ten to twelve the oldest eighty or ninety. They looked to be a grandmother and granddaughter and maybe an entire family. One thing they all had in common was the look of anguish frozen on their faces.

Sky’s eyes filled with tears and she shook with rage. “How can anything with a heart do this to their fellow man or sentient race? Why would someone do this to gain a little power”? She sobbed asking everyone listening. The chambers looked very different than the other ones they found the people in earlier. These were made quickly and with no comfort in mind. The tubes were connected to some device the tubes coming from under the cover, filled with a dark brown matter and the other a yellowish liquid. Exiting the device was a tube with a little beige substance, and the other tube was transparent. At one end was what looked like to be a bomb of some kind? Sky looked to be concentrating on how to help the people inside the strange chambers.

Sky turned to Fred with a pleading look in her eyes. “I have to make a few special spells to help them. I’m going to make a spell to deconstruct the whole thing in its base elements and revive the people. Once out they’ll be sent to my house inside the ship. Is there a spell to make a gateway between two places”? Sky asked no one in particular.

“Yes, there is; but it takes four mages to perform it, and they have to be perfectly in sync for it to work. Out of over a hundred thousand attempts maybe two or three work well enough to use. It takes a lot of magic too.” Todd looked to Sky with a smile. “If it’s you it should be super easy.” He said with confidence in his voice.

“How come I couldn’t find it on the galactic-net. I looked everywhere, and there was nothing mentioned about any spells I could use.” Sky asked Todd

“You wouldn’t find it easily with any search without every specific access to the research done. I only know of it because of a friend, and he worked on making it easier for people to cast it. The group never made any progress with the spell; they didn’t even manage to cast one that worked.” Todd said and brought up his wrist tablet punching in a password. “How do I send you the link to the research project you don’t have a M.A.D device.”

Sky walked up to Todd and touched the tablet. “Thanks that’s more than I needed Todd Sir.” She made a squinting pinched face. “That’s an ugly spell, no wonder they have such a hard time casting that spell. I will be the only reason it worked was just a lot of luck. I think I can make it so anyone with a lot of magic can cast it. It would take four of the five elements to work well.” She paused again. It doesn’t seem to be very versatile and has a range limit. It will serve my purpose well enough and doesn’t need to be fancy.” She said she went silent as she thought about what the new spells had to do.

Fred called Sky over to him. “Do you have another way we can help you? If you want, you can leave the scanning to us and work on the spells you need to help free the captured magic users. We now know how to break through the magical barriers around the planets and ships.” Fred said and gave out some orders to his crew. The scan windows flashed in front of each of them and marking points of interest on the maps of the solar system.

Shining Fang moved through the system slowly maneuvering around space ships that didn’t know they were there. Inside the ship, view screens popped up everywhere on the bridge. All hostile all lethally armed, and all no match as far as everyone on Shining Fang. Even at a slow speed, the scouting went quickly and thoroughly as they passed through. They mapped out fifteen clusters of hyper chambers. Each cluster contained from ten to thirty chambers, and they were just halfway through the system.

Things got interesting as they approached a large planet with breathable air and a temperate climate. It looked like it was a thriving colony at one time, but now it was just a bunch of building with chambers clustered inside of many of the builds. There must have been tens of thousands of the coffin-like chambers. Conventional railguns, missile launchers, and anti-aircraft guns are the main defence system. There were also hundreds of ships in orbiting in defence of the planet.

Sky came running onto the bridge and looked down to the planet’s surface. “They’re on that planet, all of them and their casting that ugly magic. I can feel it; it’s dark, oily, mucky, and just horrid.” Sky stood shaking in disgust and anger at what was happening on the surface. “They’re making more mages like Jane, and some of them are dying, and they can’t stop the spells.” Sky was sobbing at what she could see.

Fred got up and put his hand on Sky’s tiny shoulder. “What is it Ensign Sky? What’s the matter? Do you see something down on the planet we don’t see”? Fred asked Sky trying to see what Sky was looking at to upset into rage-filled tears. Fred let out a gasp as he started to make out what caused her emotionally distraught.

Laid out on a concrete field were two Titan corpses and among them were many other dead beings of different races. The Titans had large chunks of flesh carved out of different body parts. Many of the other bodies had large burns, and some looked mummified, dried out husks.

“Can you see it? Can you see what they did? Can you see what they’re doing? They are all evil no good person can do what they are doing. We have to stop them, they know we are coming, and they're getting ready for us.” Her tiny fist was shaking along her body. In anger with a need to vent somehow. “They want mommy and daddy for their evil magic tests. They want to use their chaos magic on them, just like they did on those dead Titans.”

How could someone be so twisted to do that to another human being “They even want to steal my magic and us it to hunt Titans? They are going to make an army of evil super mages and to use their ugly chaos magic.” Sky placed her hand on Fred’s hand and squeezed it. She turned her head and looked to the entrance to the bridge.

Rocssanna and William walked on to the bridge and seen what disturbing Sky was. They both see the two Titans being carved up for some heinous reason they couldn’t fathom. The two Titans were recognizable even with the top of their heads broken open with their faces were still intact. The one was a Titan that had escaped their justice in their part of the mage wars. The other Titan was one of the royal guards he once considered a friend. He was a distant cousin to Rocssanna, Blaken Stormside and he was a part of the Knights wedding party. “Fred we’re going to join you when you start on this planets incursion,” William said leaving nothing to debate with the tone he took.

Fred was watching the Knights embrace each other. Rocssanna had her head buried in Williams' chest with racks of sobs coming from her. “How do you want to join us in the battle”? Fred asked not wanting to pry just yet.

William’s voice sounded choked as he spoke. “We’ll take our ship and go down to the surface in our natural form.” He told Fred leaving no room for deliberation. He turned to his daughter and beckoned her over. “I, we have a favour to ask of you? Could you cast a spell to help negate the effects of our weakness to four to five elemental gifts? I don’t want them to know it is a weakness we all share. I don’t plan on giving them much of a chance for physical attacks. I need them to see that their magic can’t hurt us and that it was a fluke that the others were able to be killed. I don’t even think magic killed the one next to Blaken. I think my friend Blaken killed the exiled Titan. He was my contact in Royal Guard. He most likely killed the exile before they confronted him. My friend was most likely injured during the battle and attacked before he could recover.”

Sky’s eyes widened at her father’s words and held his hand. “One of them was a friend of yours? I’m sorry for your loss of a friend; I’ll do anything to help you get the people the justice they deserve. I can’t imagine losing any of my new family and friends.” Sky said as she started to tear up as she imagined what it would be like losing someone she loved. “I can cast the same spells on you that Jane has on her. I can also show you some spells to use against those evil mages and shield spells to block their hideous chaos magic.” I’ll also link you to my magic wells.” Sky said her daddy and mommy. She went and hugged her distraught parents and gave them a kiss each on the parts she could reach. Rocssanna just hugged her back.

“Angel you’ve enough of how merciless how beings can treat each other.” Do force yourself to look at the atrocities they’ve committed.” Rocssanna whispered into the emotionally tried girl.

William hugged around his family to his chest “I hope we can stop them before they can start any war with the Titans are the rest of the universe. I love you my cute little angel, and here you are protecting us when we should be protecting you. You were always special even as a Titan.”

Rocssanna cuddled her sweet little girl to her chest. “We knew you could be the greatest help to known space and beyond or the greatest tyrant ever born. As a Titan, you have incredible strength for your age. As a holder of magic, you hold more than anyone ever born. On top of that, you hold all five elements and have an uncanny gift of how it works.” Rocssanna hugs Sky inside wishing there was another way, one where her sweet daughter didn’t have to see such carnage.

“Mommy, do you want to have your magic unblocked now”? Sky asked her mommy.

“Sweetie, my magic isn’t blocked; it’s just really weak and not much of it,” Rocssanna told her daughter.

“No mommy, you and daddy have three elemental gifts each it’s just not channelled the right way. You are plugged up; I can free the flow. I think you made the blockage yourselves by trying to hide your magic from me. The magic you hold is not a powerful as mine, your cute little angel.” Sky said with a cute smile.

Rocssanna looked at William and could still laugh lightly with the forfeiture of a friend. “I think our little girl is a wee bit conceited and it’s because the way you're telling her she’s so cute.”

“You’re the one to talk; you have brushed her hair for hours telling her how beautiful her hair is and how pretty she is,” William said pulling in the two of them for a kiss.

“Alright, I’m going to cast the spells on you and mommy when you’re ready. I’ll make sure you have the spells you need to fight and win against those nasty evil mages with the chaotic magic.” Sky said to her parents.

William was the first to ask Sky what he has to do.

“Sit down and close your eyes for now till I tell you to open then. I’ll cast the spells on you then mommy then I’ll show you the spells for you to use in battle.” She watched her father kneel and closes his eyes. She performs the spells just as before, and her father opens his eyes while the spell is being cast. He watches the spells coming at him from all sides and smiles.

“Most of these spells I can’t use, can I? I can see them, but I don’t feel them hitting me at all. It’s like a shower, but you can’t feel the water.” William ponders out loud.

“Daddy could you not talk right now; I’m having a hard time concentrating with you talking.” Sky said scolding her father with a serious face, then trying to suppress a laugh.

When she completed the casting, William went to stand and staggered slightly. “Woe that’s a lot of magic. I knew you had a lot, but this is ridiculous. No wonder all your spells were overpowered. I can feel the pressure almost lifting me off the floor. I think it’s making me stronger too.” William said to Sky. He then turned to his wife. “You’re not going to believe the feeling you get with the power flowing through you Honey. I think it might be addictive with this amount before it was like shooting rubber bands, not much to speak of. Now it’s like a railgun with unlimited ammo.” He was wide-eyed as he told Rocssanna.

“Okay Hun, I’ll see for myself as soon as you move to the side. Our pretty little angel is waiting to fix me up too. Not to mention everyone is starting to think you’ve gone power hungry.” Rocssanna told William. She turned to Sky. “Do you think you could give me a little more than your daddy? Someone’s got to be able to keep him in line if his head gets too big.”

“Mommy I can take back my magic without notice or contact. But you, mommy, hold more of your own magic than daddy does. I’ll even show you one extra incantation to have him kiss you. That will stop any swelling of his head.” Sky said to her mother while smiling at her father in a flash she pokes out her tongue too.

“Fine, we’ll see how you react when you feel the magic overwhelming your body,” William said to Rocssanna. “Then I’ll be asking for the extra spell to stop your beautiful mother,” William told Sky with a wink.

“Alright mommy if you could sit down, I’ll cast the spells on you, and we can finish our recon and start our rescue and detain some mission,” Sky told her mother and her words sunk in taking away all the joking tones they just had.

Rocssanna sat down with a forlorn look remembering the man, her husband’s good friend dead. She just put her head down and waited for the spell. “Are you ready mommy, just relax, and you’ll be ready to bring the bad guys to justice.” Rocssanna just nodded the fact she was ready. It looked like she was reflexing on what William was about the do when the time comes.

Sky cloned herself and started the spells Rocssanna had her eyes open the whole time. She didn’t even flinch as the spells bombarded her from all sides. As the spells entered her body a smile started to form on her face. She stayed looking down as her body’s magic was freed and Sky’s magic enhanced it.

When the casting of the spell finished Rocssanna got to her feet a little unsteady. She flexed her arm and held up her hand and made a small yellow light sphere that circled her body.

Everyone felt the spent magic from the small spell. There was more to the spell than what they could see.

Todd could see the spell, and it made no sense to him. There was the light spell and something else more powerful. Todd’s unquenchable desire in all things magic. He approached Rocssanna when the light sphere turned red, and it went between them. It flashed, and a shield popped into view while it flashed again menacingly.

“I wouldn’t come any closer until I dispel it because I didn’t put too much thought into the spell,” Rocssanna said as she waved her hand and the dispelled the light.

“I’ve never seen the light like that before. What was the rest of the spells you used with the light sphere”? Todd asked Rocssanna with enthusiasm at the new spell.

“I just combined a bunch of spells after seeing how Sky linked her spells together. If. She makes combining spells look so easy if you can follow the way she assembles her spell circles.” She told Todd with a smile. “I know of some spells and incantations but never really had the magic to make them work. With the magic Sky unlocked and gave me it made casting them now effortless.”

“She never showed us how to combine spells or incantations. How could you see from just watching the spells at the rate they were coming at you”? Todd asked perplexed in what Rocssanna was saying. “They were also inverted; how could you separate the different parts from each other”?

Rocssanna Frowned at Todd. “Could you not see most of the spells started and ended with the same spell parts binding them together? There were hundreds of them, how could you miss that part of the spells she cast”?

“Well they were inverted, and I could only see them for a faction of a second before they entered everyone, I watched the spells cast. It’s not like she was casting them to show how it’s done.” Todd answered with a slight annoyance in his voice. He didn’t like to be called slow by anyone.

Before they said, any more Fred stopped any further conversation. “I know this is an interesting conversation, but we have a mission to complete first. Once we on our way from here, we can take our time discussing Sky’s new ways of magic casting. For now, let’s get this part of the mission finished and start rescuing all of those people in the chambers.” Fred spoke loud enough for everyone to hear. The way his voice thundered as he spoke left no one in doubt that he was the man in charge.

“Man, your stations and call out anything new or what seems out of the ordinary so far. Snap to it.” He suddenly felt the need to tell them why he felt the need to be so stern. “This mission is not going to end with the capture and freeing the captives. The rot in the system has to have run deep for so many magic users to be abducted without the attention brought to the general public. Ten or twenty is possible but not thousands of people going missing without any public announcement. I can only hope there aren’t other places like this around somewhere else.” Fred’s words left everyone temporarily speechless in contemplation of what he said.

Sky gave her parents a slight smile and walked over to Fred’s side. “Captain Fred Sir. Do I have permission to finish what I started it the Little Tooth’s cargo bay? I’m still working on the spells too free the captives and now I have one more ship to prepare. It shouldn’t take too long, but I would like to get started before we finish the recon part. I might be able to make a railgun for her too if you would like. I still have to make mommy’s and daddy’s ship a little better for war. I have to make the scout ship undetectable as possible it will take hundreds of spells too.”

“I haven’t even seen much of their ship yet. So, I don’t even know if it’s armed or has any bubble protection.” She turned to her parents and asked with her eyes; she knew her parents were lessening. They weren’t forthcoming with any information without her asking. “Mommy, daddy does your ship have any weapons or bubbles to protect you from the mad evil mages.”

“We could use both the ship we have is more for a pleasure cruise, not for battle. I kind of like the railguns on Shining Fang you made. I think one would work well if you can pull it off. It doesn’t need to be to scale to the size of the ship. They built our ship for Titans, not tiny humans. Our bed is twice the size of this ship. So, if you do build it for us, it would be like a nail in their coffin. You don’t have to become full size though; I think we’ll be okay with fighting the wretched little things.” William gave a full sore look. “After it’s all done, we’ll give our friends body to the flame, and we’ll bury the war criminal in the dirt.”

“So, a railgun for you and how about you captain Fred Sir? Do you want a railgun too? It won’t take much more time to build two or three.”

Fred smiled. “Sure, if it’s not going to be much trouble.” He gave William and Rocssanna a sly look. “You could make two for your parents and make them like a hand-held gun for their Titan forms. I’m sure that would work well for them.”

“No need for anything like that we already have handguns that are similar to your railguns. Ours doesn’t use magic just powerful magnets, and we can carry tonnes of ammo; each projectile would be around a metre long.” He told Fred and his daughter.

“Alright, Ensign Sky I am sure we can do without you for a little while. What you’re going to do is very important for all of us. We’ll let you know if you can help with any of the recons and provide us with your input with your unique gifts.” Fred told Sky. “I’ll see you at lunchtime and see how everything is going. You’re dismissed to your work on our spells and the ships. If you need any help, I could spare maybe one person, but it would be better if you took more time than rush yourself or need another person.” Sky understood what Fred said and what he didn’t say.

“Alright, captain Fred sir I’ll be in the cargo bay working on everything.” Sky replied to her captain and turned to her parents. Is it okay if I swing by the mess hall and grab something to snack on”?

“No, we’ll be going to come with you and serve you something to eat. We’ll leave you some snacks for you while you’re working. I know you get hungry when you use a lot of magic. It must be related to the amount your body has to replenish.” William said to his cute little daughter.

“Daddy, Joe said it was always making more regardless of how much I have in my well.” She replied to her father. “Lead the way daddy we’ll be right behind you.” Sky said linking her arm with her father.

Fred felt two of the three leave the room. It took another two days to make it through the system, and they found two more planets with colonies that were all abducted. The ones without magic were used to test some spells or just killed outright. Both of the planets with the most chambers were heavily guarded by ships in orbit around the planets.

They gave Sky one day of rest which she spent looking at the courses she could take at her new school while they finished scouting out the rogue solar system. Fred, Sky and Jane met separately to make up the plan of freeing most of the captives. It took three hours to come up with a plan that Fred found acceptable enough to give the pair his consent to their final plan

Fred called everyone to the cargo bay to start the second part of the mission. Everyone noted both Todd’s scout ship and Little Tooth now had two railguns attached to either side of the cargo ramps. Fred brought up a holographic map of the solar system.

Joe looked around for the Knights ship. “Where is your ship Sky, the one your parents brought? I would like to see a Titan’s ship. I’ve never seen one before and thought it would be interesting.”

No one had seen the Titan’s ship because of its size. Sky smiled at Joe. “It’s too big to bring out in here I had to do all of the work in the pocket space. It wasn’t easy, but I managed to do it.”

Todd looked around the cargo bay size. “Couldn’t you make the room even bigger to work on it out inside here? I didn’t I think you have a limit to the size you can make the room.”

Sky laughed at the thought. “I don’t think there is a limit to the size of a room I can make. But there is a limit to being practical. Once you see the size of the ship, you’ll know what I mean. I never saw a ship a big as theirs.”

Fred smiled. “How many spaceships have you seen in your life”?

She pondered the question. “I think I’ve seen about five hundred from the planet surface. But I’ve only seen about ten up close, and I’ve been on four ships. The four were pretty big freight ships”?

“Alright, we have a mission to start so let’s split into the teams. Sky, Jane you get the scout ship.” Fred said to Sky and Jane who stepped forward to get their briefing. “Are you ready with everything you need to free the abducted magic users, what and where you’re going to put them”?

Sky and Jane stood to attention and Sky answered him. “Yes, captain Fred Sir we have the scout ship armed with a new railgun and bubble spells for hiding and protection. I also have two loops for freeing the stolen people and transport them to my house. I made my house way bigger to hold everyone with water and beds for all.”

Fred gave Sky a questioning look. “Loops, what do you mean by loops? How is a loop going to help them while they’re in the chamber and a comatose”?

“The loop has spells cast on them that will break down the chambers take their magic back and transport them to the house.” She told Fred giving him a scowl, then a smile. “Conny can organize them and let them know what’s happening. She could also tell them where they are and why they can’t leave the big room. So, with the loop, we just have to start pulling it over the chamber from the bomb side first, and the spells in the loops will do the rest. I have two right now.” She said holding up two large dull silver rings. “And I could make more if you want, the loop starts at ten centimetres (four inches) and can get as big as you need it. They can work as fast as you can move it so there is no problem for me to run as fast as I can to save everyone in a room in seconds.” She looked around at everyone.” I think I should make enough for everyone. Just in case you get the chance to rescue some of the abducted people before we can get to them.”

Todd thought about it. “I think that’s a great idea there are quite a few places that have only five of the chambers. We could free them as soon as we take out the rogue mages in the area.”

Fred had a look of contemplation or using his gift. A vision flashed in front of his eyes of Todd and Courtney holding off some mages as Heather freed a few captives. He saw the magic change when the first one was freed, by the time the last one was safely away the rogue mages were super weak with magic but still fended off the binding spells. It must have been the chaos magic that they used. They started to look crazed and insane. The spells they used became more powerful and started to foam from their mouths. The vision soon faded, and Fred gave his head a shake. “I think that’s a great idea too. Some strange things are going to happen. From what I see of the future the chaos magic is quite powerful but makes the mages go crazy.” Fred said looking to Joe who knew how to give him possible scenarios to see further outcomes.

Joe picked up what Fred was after. “So, you want us to blast them before they go crazy or after? I don’t think we need to worry about keeping too many alive if a traitor is the one who told us to do so. He might have more than one agendum he’s working on.” Joe speculated seeing if Fred reacted.

Again, Fred gave it a thought, and nothing happened. He shook his head slightly giving him a signal of no vision.

Sky was the one to ask the next question. “When you seen the mages go crazy was anyone fighting them at the time? I was hoping to see if the spells I gave you were effective against the chaos magic or not.”

“From what I saw the shield spells we have held, but the binding spells just bounced off of their shields. In my vision, a few of the rogue mages were down but I never saw what happened to them.” Fred told Sky, who went into deep thought.

“I’ll have to see them weave the spells before I can even guess how they work. My suggestion is if the binding spell doesn’t work, try and disable them a different way. They might have a hard time fighting back with a big hole in their leg. If need be, they can be healed after they’re caught. We know if we’re caught, we’re dead, batteries for magic or killed for our special gifts. We can’t afford to be caught it’s them or us.” Sky stated her opinion with grim determination.

Joe gave Sky a closer look and smiled. “Are you sure you’re only nine years old you seem too mature to be only nine? If I didn’t know better, I would say you’re around twenty-something by the way you act most of the time.”

Fred, Rocssanna and William gave Joe a gaze that could freeze mercury. But it was Jane that spoke. “Her age is not in question Joe Sir. Her ideas sound and I would have come up with the same thing as well. I think she beat us all to the punch. She’s just as smart as she is cute and huggable.” Jane said giving her teammate a one arm hug. Sky looked ahead with the biggest smile.

Fred never even reacted to the comment he had a far-off gaze. A strong vision took him. What he saw a battle almost as brutal as the last simulation they ran. Todd and his team’s shields held but the blast they were taking knocked them around. Till they started casting bullet type spells, then it was a one-sided battle, the rogue mages didn’t stand a chance. Even the mages taking shelter behind the life suspending chambers were easy to curve the shots around enough to hit them. Sky’s improved spells were devastating. The fact they had all five elements and near limitless magic didn’t hurt either.

They saved the abducted people unmolested but still quickly went about the task because most likely they had a long way to go too free everyone.

When Fred’s vision stopped, he sagged slightly in his stance. Sky without movement cast a healing spell, and Fred’s vigour returned. He gave her a slight nod in acknowledgement of her kind gesture. “There are some new orders I’m giving you. We’re going to broadcast the following in short range frequency. If you want to stay alive drop your shields and put your hands on the back of your head. We’ll hit you with a binding spell and shield you from any crossfire or damage from any resistance other non-compliant combatants. We will try to make sure your lives kept intact for a trial. Any resistance will be dealt with lethal force, and you’ll have no mercy other than a quick death.” He finished saying in his deep, powerful voice which left no doubt that he meant every word. “How does that sound to you, any questions or concerns”?

Sky put up her hand. Fred found it cute she was treating the mission briefing as a school assignment. “Yes, Sky what would you like to add or question”?

‘Um, Captain Fred Sir just two things. First one, I think if we’re going to bind and put them in a bubble the possible bad people, we should add a stasis effect and place them in, in, ah suspended animation, thank you, Conny.” Sky said. “I would like to start making the loops for everyone else before I cause a delay saving the poor abducted people.”

Fred liked her idea about the stasis field, and he had no problem with her making the loops as she called them for everyone. “The suspended animation is a great idea. I should have thought about that who knows how long we will be engaged in the rescue mission. They would have been in the least, their filth by the time we get back to them.” Sky went “eeww” when she thought about that part of what Fred stated. Rocssanna chuckled at Sky’s reaction soon everyone laughed lightly making Sky face redden slightly. Fred saw her squirm enough and gave her a way out. “You can go and make the other loops and if you want to put together the new binding spell because you would be able to do it the fastest out of all of us.”

Sky was happy with Fred’s faith in her and letting her move away from the laughing bunch of friends. She hooked an arm through Janes' arm and pulled her along with her. “We’ll just be behind Little Tooth making the loops, so we don’t disturb you while you go through with your plans. We shouldn’t take long; it’s just simple copying of one of our loops.” She said over her shoulder as they made their way around the larger ship in the cargo bay.

Jane was about to protest leaving. She wanted to hear the plans they were making but Sky’s grip left no doubt she was going along for at least the company.

Fred brought his attention back to the two teams before him. “Todd I would like you to start with the first planet with the most chambers we come across. We’ll take out most of the ship who put up resistance then I’ll take the Knights on to our new objective. Sky and Jane will stay with you to take out the rest of the rogue ships and free the abducted magic users.”

Fred looked to William and Rocssanna. “I know you didn’t want to get involved with actual combat. After seeing a friend dead and those vial mages desecrating his body, I understand you want a piece of them. I would have been on edge to attack once I saw him.” Fred sounded remorseful at what the Knights had just gone through; he crossed his fist over his heart. “I’m sorry for your Mr. and Mrs. Knight to lose of a friend. I’ll make sure they pay for what they did and plan on doing. With your help, this cult of fanatical mages will be brought to its knees and soon wiped out completely. The first thing we have to do is clean out this solar system.”

“We are going to take out the ships around the second planet with the most hyper-chambers and leave the surface for Sky and Jane to free everyone. Sky and Jane can free the two planets, and the three fighting teams can converge on the planet with the Titans on them and find out what they’re doing with the bodies.” Fred said glancing back to where Sky and Jane walked off. “That will hopefully take their focus off of what Sky and Jane are doing. Hopefully, that will attract more of the rogue mages into our battle and cause more to forced to back from looking for us and get them closer than trying to run.” Fred said all of this is not inviting any questions until he finished. He noticed William and Rocssanna look between each other than to him. “Do you have anything to add to this plan, Mr. or Mrs. Knight? You can speak freely right now. I don’t mind your input.”

“We were thinking of adding to it and clearing a few details. I should remind you about the size of our ship; it’s as large as a human’s freighter ship. It can easily overwhelm a small fleet of low-class fighters and wipe out half as many elite fighters. Once we start attacking and half of the guard ships are wiped out, we would like to make it to the planet surface as quickly as possible. But we need someone to free the captives as we take away anyone guarding them. Our Titan forms do not allow us to enter the buildings and it’s not practical to change back and forth between sizes.” William informed Fred.

“I’m not sure how I can help you with that part. We believe that it the centre of the base of the fanatical mage of operation. The rogue ships are going to focus on defending it, and we most likely are attacked constantly by every ship in firing range.” Fred told the pair.

It was Todd who came up with the answer that made the most sense to the Knights. “Why don’t you take out most of the mage guards together, and have Rocssanna revert to human size and free the captives while William keeps the others occupied. If you need to you can always go out and use some tech weapon or spells to assist him. We have some assault rifles that take your magic to enhance the bullets. I might be able to come up with magic projectiles much like the ones I use. I won’t even bother with giving you the binding spells. From what I’ve seen of the future for the fanatical mages surrender is not in the choices they consider.” Todd told Mr. and Mrs. Knight. They found his idea acceptable and planned on doing just what he suggested.

Almost as soon as they came up with their plan, Sky and Jane came back with a hand full of small loops each, and they handed them out. Sky gave one to each of her parents, “they become bigger as you need them to be and always revert to this size when not being used.”

William took his with a hug and kiss. Rocssanna did likewise. Sky also gave Fred and Joe their loops. They just gave her a small hug, it was not very formal as military protocol, but this was Sky the changer of all things. Fred knew she was just happy being about to touch people now. He hoped it would be less common once she started school.

Todd mentioned to Sky about giving them assault rifles. “They would be unable to use their Titan weapons when in human size. I’ll enchant the rifles to shoot magic bullets including enhanced regular bullets.”

Sky smiled at Todd. “What type of enchanted bullets will you have it shoot”? She saw him ponder on the question and asked another. “You should be able to put more than one enchantment on the rifle right”?

Todd looked at Sky and was about to tell her no but remembered who he was talking to. “I’m not sure if you can, but if I told you couldn’t, I’m sure you would make me a liar. So, I think you might be able to puzzle out how to do it. I’ll show you how to put the first one on, and you can think of a way to add more on if you can.” Todd said to Sky taking his tablet to show her the different spells.

“I know the spells you're going to show me. I’ve tweaked them already remember.” She said crossing her arms making a sound of indignation glaring at him. He looked shocked at her reaction. When did she think he was about to say something? She flashed a smile and a short laugh. “Yes, I know the spells and how to put them onto any trigger weapon. I had done some research when I made the railguns, so I know most of the spells they use to enhance bullets and make enchanted magic bullet spells. I’m sure once you go to fire the railguns on Shining Fang, you’ll find you have many options to choose from alongside the regular metal projectiles you’ll never see on the inside of the ship.” Todd looked to Sky in again more admiration.

“So, you can put more than one incantation on a rifle. How would you activate the separate spells to use the different projectiles”? He asked her.

“If you show me the rifles, I can show you how I can put the many different spells on it.” Sky said asking Todd to bring her the two rifles. He went over, into his scout ship and a few moments he came out with two midsize assault rifles with a backpack. Sky held out her hand for one of the rifles. He held it out but did not release the gun. “This is a dangerous weapon and should be handled with care. Even unloaded you can’t be too careful with guns. Do you know how they work, I could show you”?

Sky smiled. “No, I didn’t till just now I asked Conny to show me how they worked and all the parts. So, until just a few seconds ago I didn’t know much other than point and shoot. I’ve never held one until now. So, what type of incantations should I put on it”? Sky asked as she places her hand on the barrel.

“I was thinking of putting on the hyper bullets at first but the explosive bullets and maybe the freezing bullets. If you can see maybe something to dispel a shield, just in case a mage is holding someone hostage. The first three can rip apart a shield with no problem but would kill anyone within the shield. Dispelling a shield would allow you to shoot anyone you want without killing everyone inside.” Todd informed Sky.

She bit a piece of her fingernail off, and Todd had no idea what she was going to do with the silver of fingernail. He understood as she etched rune symbols into the surface along the barrel. After she finished making her symbols along the barrel, she cast the spells corresponding to each set of runes the symbols glowed in a reddish tinned light.

Once she finished the first rifle enhances, she handed it to her mother. She performed the same to the second rifle and handed that one to her father. “If you have time you could have Fred and Joe go with you through a quick battle sim so they can assess what you and mommy capabilities. I’m sure you can learn or teach a few things for each other and also try out each the spells I placed on them.”

William looked at one of the glowing set of runes. “How do I activate the different types of projectiles”? He asked looking back to Sky and then to Todd.

“I’m sorry daddy I didn’t know you can’t read the runes. Here let me show you how they work and what they are.” She said to her father and pointed out the first runes going clockwise around the barrel. “To activate each spell just move your finger along the one you want. I actually made the spells able to be combined. I don’t think it’s necessary, but you never know if you need an extra punch. The first one enhances the regular bullets. The second one is hypersonic, and the third is the explosive ones. The fourth is the freeze rounds and the fifth one is to dispel shields. Just don’t combine the shield dispel with any of the other if you want someone in it to survive.” Sky told her father and her mother knowing she was lessening.

Todd looked at the runes. “What keeps anyone from copying the runes and using them, themselves”? He asked taking note of the rune symbols.

“Oh, you can copy the runes, but they wouldn’t work without the right incantations. If they had tried to copy the runes it would most likely just suck up any magic; they used to activate it.” Sky told Todd.

Jane stepped forward, “Captain Fred Sir I would like to run a few simulations with Sky as well. I have faith in her magic, strength and speed, but I have no idea how she will handle a multiple combat situation like we are headed for. I don’t think it would hurt to run a few gauntlets to evaluate the Knights combat skills and see if we can improve each other in some way.” Jane smiled at the Knight family. “I mean no disrespect, but I need to know what Sky is capable of before we start our mission. You can understand, right Sky. I care a great deal about you, and I don’t want to you into something that may overwhelm you”? She said to Sky.

Fred saw William and Rocssanna consider what Jane was trying to say. “I think that is a great idea. We’ve never even seen if Sky knows how to fight with magic against multiple opponents.” He turned to the Knights. “Sorry, but we don’t even know if you can fight against anyone but Titans.”